


The Return that Changed Everything

by thebosscamacho



Series: The Returnverse [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Character Tags to be Added - Freeform, There will be contraversy, maybe? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2018-11-13 02:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 21,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11175516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebosscamacho/pseuds/thebosscamacho
Summary: It was never suppose to happen. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and Homeworld had gotten itself into a whole heap of trouble. The only one who could save them now is public enemy number one, Rose Quartz. But to do such, steps must be taken, and compromises made. The event that follow will rock gemkind's world.





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea kicking around in my head for a long time now. At some point, I thought "What if Rose was to return somehow?". I'm pretty sure it wouldn't happen in canon (or that would be the finale, IDK), but the idea still intrigues me. Plus, give where we are now, I feel it's the best time for it to occur.
> 
> Diverges from canon after the event of Wanted.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins.

Being the best had it perks, but most fail to realize that such status also had its drawbacks. One such drawback is being given simple job that would, on paper, be well within the ability of a lesser gem. Yet somehow, "retrieve my palanquin" was, in practice, too much for even a peridot to handle. Aquamarine thought back to her earlier conversation with Blue Diamond as she descended into depths unknown. 

"My Diamond, why have you summoned me?" Aquamarine asked.

"Rose Quartz has escape our grasp during her trail, using my palanquin for get away. While I would appreciate you bring her back, your primary objective is to retrieve my palanquin." Blue Diamond replied.

"Of course, My Diamond. I shall be back before you know it." Aquamarine said with a salute.

How did Rose Quartz escape with two diamonds right in front of her? Perhaps that's why she was called for this tasked. After all, the rebellion was kept secret, and she was one of the few to know of it. As such, best to get those in on the secret. Regardless, Aquamarine continued her downward flight.

"The original kindergarten." she said to herself as she went further down.  Soon enough, she found the palanquin. It was damaged, but nothing that couldn't be repaired. "Let's see if I can find Rose."

Aquamarine flew forward a bit before coming to what seemed to be an entrance blocked from the inside. She pulled her wand from her hair, moved the rock with her tractor beam and entered the area. Before her, strange gems she had never seen before, save one she did recognize stared at her in shock, she quickly captured them with her tractor beam.

"We're about to get captured!" the padparadscha sapphire among them cried out.

"Well well, look what we have here. A bunch of good for nothing off colors." Aquamarine said smugly. She looked among them before recognizing one of them as the human she had brought. "Wait, how did you get here?" she asked the human as she flew up to him. The fact that he had turned pink meant nothing to her.

"I don't have to tell you anything." the human replied.

"Oh? There are ways to get you to talk, Human." Aquamarine replied.

"My name is Lars, and after everything I've been through, you can't break me."

"Torture isn't the only option, Lars." Aquamarine said with a chuckle. "Tell me where Rose Quartz is before I turn you over to the diamonds again."

"I don't know who you are talking about."

"Rose Quartz, short, chubby, curly brown hair."

"You mean Steven? He's not here."

"Where is she?"

"I'm not telling you."

Aquamarine growled in frustration before dragging the group to the palanquin. She stuffed them inside and carried the whole thing to the surface. Much to her surprise, Blue Diamond was waiting for her at the room she had started in.

 "Your palanquin, my diamond."

"Excellent, did you find Rose?" the diamond replied.

"No, but I did find a lead." Aquamarine replied, dragging the off colors out. She then lifted Lars in front of her. "The human seem to know where she is though."

"I see," Blue Diamond said flatly. "It just so happen that White Diamond wanted a human for study. I was going to turn her down, but I think now we can strike a deal."

"I'm not afraid of you, Lady." Lars said sternly.

"Oh, it's not me you should be afraid of, Human." The Diamond replied, taking hold of Lars in her hand.


	2. Trip to Earth

Peridot looked upon her latest creation with pride. The foot from her old limb enhancers laid split in two on a wood panel. Standing in the center of the two halves was a wooden star painted yellow. Lapis looked upon it with her usual apathy.

“What is it supposed to represent?”

“Huh? Oh, this piece is about how my life has changed for the better.” Peridot replied.

“By becoming a Crystal Gem?” Lapis asked.

“Absolutely. Back on Homeworld, I was a technician and nothing more. Now, now I can make my own choices on anything, be whatever I want, do whatever I want, and no one can take that from me.”

“Maybe being one of them works for you, but I’m still not convinced.” Lapis said simply.

“You really should let it go. How is holding that grudge doing you any good? You know as well as I do, they had no way of knowing. Would Steven appreciate it?”

“I know. But like you said, it’s my choice. I already allied myself with them anyway when I warned them of your coming, and when I imprisoned Jasper under the ocean. I’ll work with them when required. I’ll get over the grudge, my way on my time. Steven would understand. He still likes me, even if we don’t see eye to eye on everything.” The two of them owed a lot to Steven. Neither could imagine their lives without him or the things he did for them.

Pumpkin started barking and growling at something, prompting both gem to go outside. Peridot looked up to the sky. She squinted when she though she saw something in the distance. Her eyes widened when she recognized it.

“We have to leave, NOW!”Peridot said in a panic.

She took off running towards the gem temple. Lapis looked were Peridot had looked. Now she could see what had scared Peridot, a large gem spaceship. Quickly, she materialized her wings and took off, picking up Peridot on the way.

* * *

 Steven Universe sat in the living room, Bismuth’s bubble in one hand and Jasper’s in the other. He sighed as his father entered the room.

“It’s no use crying over spilled milk.” Greg said simply.

“It’s not that. It’s just that…”

"No matter how much you try to protect them, people get hurt?"

"Yeah."

"Rosy had the same problem. She always felt guilty for all those who where wronged because of her rebellion and the actions that followed. Don't worry buddy, we'll get Lars back."

"I hope so." Steven looked down at the bubbles."These two in bubbles thanks to me." Steven sighed."I wish I could let them out."

Before Greg could reply, Peridot and Lapis burst through the front door.

“Guys! Homeworld is at our doorstep!” Peridot cried as she and Lapis came through the front door.

Garnet, Pearl and Amethyst came running into the room shortly afterwards. “Homeworld! Here?” Pearl asked worriedly, almost on the verge of full on panic.

“Relax,” Garnet declared calmly, “They won’t hurt us.”

“Why not?” Amethyst asked.

“We have something they want.”

“And what would that be, miss future vision.” Pearl asked indignantly.

Steven turned pale at the realization.

“They want…”

“Stay were you are.” A gruff feminine voice ordered.

Gems burst from all possible entrances (some of which they made), pointing their summoned weapons, gem destabilizers and futuristic laser guns at the Crystal Gems.

“They are secure, my diamond.” A clear quartz reported. “Bring them outside.” Yellow Diamond ordered.

The Crystal Gems where ushered outside the temple and onto the beach. Yellow and Blue Diamond stared down at them, pearls at their sides. Yellow Diamond breathed heavily before she spoke.

“Is this all of you?” she asked coldly.

“No,” Steven replied, holding up Bismuth’s bubble. “There is also this Bismuth.” The diamond looked at the other bubble.

“Is that my missing Jasper?”

“Yes, but she’s corrupted now.” Steven replied solemnly.

“That won’t be a problem.” Yellow Diamond replied. She motioned her pearl to retrieve the bubble. “I’m not surprised. How could the perfect quartz come from a half-baked Kindergarten?”

Steven looked hopeful as he handed the bubble over.

“Alright Clod, you have Jasper, now leave.” Peridot ordered.

“Getting Jasper back was bonus. What I actually wanted was Rose Quartz. I figured you joined the Crystal Gems, traitor. That report of yours wasn’t convincing in the least.” Yellow Diamond replied harshly. She lowered herself to face Steven. “Now, are you going to come quietly?”

Before Steven could answer, Pumpkin ran up to Yellow Diamond, attacking her boot best he could. The diamond regarded the living fruit with apathy before crushing it with her heel.

"Pumpkin!" Peridot and Lapis cried out in unison.

Greg looked nervously at Yellow Diamond, but relax when he saw Blue Diamond. "Your Majesties, you have to understand, he's not Rose Quartz."

Blue Diamond stepped forward. "How are you here? I brought to the human zoo."

"That's not important now, you highness. Rose Quartz gave up her physical form to give Steven life. He has her gemstone, but he's a different person entirely."

"Steven is a gem-human hybrid." Peridot added after the moment of silence that followed. "Rose Quartz partook in human reproduction to create him."

The homeworld gems looked at each other in confusion before Blue Diamond turned back to Greg. "Rose Quartz was the one you lost."

"Yeah." Greg replied.

"And you lost her because you reproduced with her and she gave herself to make offspring."

"Yeah."

"So this... Steven, is not Rose Quartz, but her progeny?" 

"Uh, yeah."

"I say he's lying, crush him." Yellow Diamond interjected.

"No! No one will harm them." Blue shouted.

"Why, Blue? What has this human done for you that you feel the need to protect him?"

Blue looked at Greg again. "He sympathized."

Yellow looked surprised. "Hold on, did you just say organic life is capable of sympathy?"

"I was surprised by it as well, but yes."

Yellow Diamond groaned and looked down at her pearl. "Scan this Steven."

Yellow Diamond’s Pearl took out a device from her gem, stepped forward and scanned Steven. A look of confusion crossed her face as she looked at the results. “I think you need to see this, my diamond.” She stated shocked.

Yellow Diamond took the device and looked at its readings. “Their telling the truth.” Yellow Diamond stood tall. "Get me contact with the scientist caste, now!” she ordered as she returned to her ship.

Blue Diamond leaned down to face Steven. "I'm sorry for everything we put you through, but why did you say you where Rose Quartz."

"Someone had to take responsibility for her actions. I know she would have gone in my place if she were here."

"She will be soon enough, and she will answer for the consequences of the Rebellion." Blue Diamond stood up. "Take them aboard the ship." 

The Crystal Gems where escorted to Blue Diamond’s ship and taken to the bridge. Blue Diamond struck up a conversation with Greg while the ship was prepared for take off.

“Do you really think they can bring Rose back?” Amethyst asked. "They don't seem to know much about organic lifeforms."

"Well, considering that scanner could identify organic material, I'd say that gems have learned about human biology at least. But how is the question, they'd need a human specimen just to get started." Peridot put in.

"They have a zoo of humans." Steven added, then paused. "And...Lars!"

"That reminds me, I'm sorry for giving the diamond that list of humans back then."

"Don't apologize to me, Peri, apologize to the people who got kidnapped."

"I will. Anyway, if they have this Lars, then I have no doubt they studied him." 

It was silent for a few minutes when Steven remembered he was still holding Bismuth’s bubbled. “Can I let her out now?”

“It’s as good a time as any.” Garnet replied.

Steven popped the bubble and Bismuth instantly began to reform. When she finished, she had assumed the hunched position she was poofed in. She looked at Steven solemnly.

“I told them everything.” He said simply.

Bismuth looked to her teammates. “Girls…”

Garnet cut her off sharply. “We need to talk.”

Steven decided to talk to Peridot and Lapis while the rest dealt with Bismuth. “What do you think they will do to us?” Steven asked Peridot.

"After they bring Rose Quartz back? That depends on the outcome of the trial." Steven sat down. "What's wrong."

"Why does every living fruit I create have to die?" he asked sadly.


	3. Rose's Return

Yellow Diamond got off her ship and met with gem she had spoken to on the way over. “You are certain you can do what I am asking.”

“Positive, my diamond” replied Alabaster.

“Good. Rose Quartz must stand trial if...”

“Say no more, it shall be done.” Alabaster interrupted.

Yellow Diamond looked at her severely. “Only a fool interrupts her diamond.”

“You are not my diamond.” Alabaster replied, “White Diamond is.”

Yellow Diamond conceited. “Fine, but my point stands. Now get to it.” She watched as Alabaster left and proceeded to the Diamond meeting room. The cloaked figure of Blue Diamond waited for her. “Do we really need to have another trial? An interrogation would be more effective.”

“Yes, like I told you last time. She's more likely to open up if we are fair with her.”

* * *

 “What!?” The Crystal Gems asked in unison.

“Do I really need to repeat myself? I’m going to operate on the boy and remove the gem.” Alabaster repeated. “Once I do, Rose Quartz will join us out here in the world.”

“But, you could kill him! We don’t even know if Rose is in there. Believe me, I tried to find out.” Pearl exclaimed.

“With what?”

Pearl blushed. “You kind of had to be there to understand.”

“Well, in the time you traitors where on Earth, our technology has advanced greatly, to the point we can do something like this. Trust me; the boy will come out alive. After all, wouldn’t you want a chance to finally meet your mother?”

Steven considered. “I…would like that, but are you sure you can do it?”

“Of course I am.” Alabaster replied.

Steven sighed. “Okay.”

“What, Steven you’re actually going to…” Amethyst began, but Steven cut him off.

“Don’t pretend you don’t want to see her again, Amethyst. I know all of you want Mom to be with you again. Now, it can happen.”

“That would be great, but we don’t want to lose you.” Greg sighed.

“I told you he’ll be fine; I guarantee his survival.” The Crystal Gem remained silent. “Alright, we’ll begin now.”

Steven followed Alabaster to another room, where she made him sit on a bed and scanned him with a laser. She scowled when she got the results. The gem was an integral part of his body, and would die without it. No matter, there was a simply solution.

“I need some of your DNA.” She told Steven, a test tube in one hand.

“Why?” the boy asked.

“Just spit in the tube.” Alabaster ordered. When he did so, she took it and mixed the contents into a potion. “Drink.” She ordered.

“Why?” Steven asked.

“You won’t survive the surgery otherwise.”

Steven took a sip. It tasted like one would imagine a chemistry project to taste but forced it down anyway. Then, Alabaster ordered him to lie on the bed, and then injected him with anesthetics. She wheeled the bed to an operating room where other gems where waiting for her. She could see the Crystal Gems through the room’s only window. She raised Steven’s shirt enough to show the gem, then cleaned the area.

“Scalpel.” She ordered. Another gem handed her the tool and she began to cut along the gem’s circumference. “Tongs.” She ordered when she had finished.

Again, she was handed the tool and began to lift the gem out. Alabaster could see a new gem, identical to the first, began to form as the old one left its place. She bubbled the gem before it could reform.

Bismuth was at a loss of words for what she had just witnessed. “But, if he wasn’t Rose, why did he have her gem?”

“We told you, Steven descended from Rose.” Garnet explained.

“But…But he said the exact same thing Rose said when I showed him the breaking point.”

“Coincidence, but I’m not surprised. They always similar like that.” Pearl put in. “I wonder what she’s going to say if she does reform. She won’t be happy you tried to kill her son.”

Bismuth stirred uncomfortably in her seat. The Crystal Gems watched as Steven was rolled out of the room. One of the gems from the operation room opened a nearby door and approached them. “Come with me, I’ll take you to the boy.”

They followed the gem to another room. Inside, Steven was still asleep. Alabaster stood next to the bed with Rose’s bubble.

“He’ll wake up soon.” She said simply, handing Pearl the white bubble, and left. The Crystal Gems looked at the bubble for a moment.

“Think she’ll come out?” Amethyst asked.

“The gem is intact; I don’t see any reason she wouldn’t” Peridot replied.

Their musing was interrupted by some groans. They looked to see Steven beginning to stir, rushing over to him when he opened his eyes.

“Steven, are you alright? How do you feel?” Pearl asked panicked.

“I feel fine.” Steven replied; then turned his attention to the bubble in her hands. It was quite an experience looking at the gem that was in his body in its entirety for the first time.

“Would you like to do the honors?” Pearl asked him.

Steven nodded and took the bubble. He got off the bed and walked away a few feet. Raising the bubble above his head, he squeezed it until it popped. Immediately, the gem levitated into the air, and light emitted from it began to take a familiar form. Surprisingly, it did not cycle through any previous form. None the less, the light hardened, colored, and before them was Rose Quartz. She kept her eyes closed as she gently landed on the ground, seemingly trying to decide what she wanted to see first. She lowered her head and opened them. The sight of her child, a little boy whose face was overwhelmed with wonder, greeted her. She stooped down to her knees.

“Hello Steven,” she said gently, “it’s nice to finally meet you.”

By now, tears where running down the poor boy’s face. He tried to say something, but couldn’t, so threw his arms around her instead. Rose hugged her son back with tears of her own streaming down her face.


	4. The Trial, Take Two

Rose pulled away from the hug when Steven would let her and stood up. The other gems stared in amazement.

Greg broke the silence. “Rosy?” he asked cautiously walking towards her.

“Hello again, Mister Universe.” Rose replied.

Greg slowly reaching out, stroking her cheek with his hand. The human shed tears as he threw his arms around his lover. "Rosy, I missed you so much."

"I know, my love. I missed you too. Always so close, but so far."

The two shared a kissed. When they pulled away, Greg spoke up again. "Go on, they missed you as much as I did."

As Rose stepped forward, Pearl burst into tear and ran over to her, her arms stretched out in front of her. They embraced moments later. “Rose…we’ve missed you so much, I’ve missed you.”

“I know, my Pearl.”

By now, Garnet and Amethyst had joined them. Rose let go of Pearl and embraced the fusion and quartz. No words needed to be said.

Rose addressed Garnet first when they pulled away. “You’ve done well as team leader; I couldn’t have done better myself.”

“Thank you Rose, but I would not mind relinquishing the title.”

“If that’s what you want.” She turned to Amethyst.

“Rose, please don’t leave us again.” She begged.

Rose chuckled. “I won’t.” and patted Amethyst on the head.

“You better mean this time, we thought you died.”

“Well, I did in a way. I can hardly call watching the world go on without you living.”

“Pearl, you were right, she did see everything through my eyes!” Steven cheered.

“I know the feeling.” Lapis interjected.

Rose looked up at the other three gems in the room. Peridot looked at her amazed, Lapis with her usual apathy, and Bismuth turned her gaze away. She approached Peridot first.

“I... it’s an honor.” Peridot managed to get out after a moment.

“Well, let me welcome you aboard. We can always use another gem that can stand up to a diamond.” Rose replied with a wink, leaving Peridot with a smile on her face. She turned to Lapis, “I’m so sorry that we left you in that mirror, but we never dreamed they’d put a conscience gem in one.”

Lapis looked angry. “It’s your fault I ended up in one. They thought I was a traitor thanks to your rebellion.”

“But I’m not the one that put you in it.”

This gave the lazuli pause. “I suppose I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Still, was that rock really worth all the trouble?”

“Yes.”

Lapis considered; then looked at Steven. “Well, I guess it does have some things of value.”

Rose nodded in agreement and turned her attention to Bismuth. “I know we left off on bad terms, but five thousand years is too long to hold a grudge.”

Bismuth turned to face her. “You really hurt me Rose. I can’t believe you’d be so much of a coward as to not tell them what happened to me. But you know what,” Bismuth’s face softened, “despite all that; I can’t stay mad at the gem who showed me a better way of life.” She held out her arms, and Rose embraced her. After a moment, they pulled away. “Steven’s twice the gem you can ever hope to be.”

“Good, I’m glad. But if you attack him again, you’ll be sorry.”

The moment that followed was filled with a slight tension before Amethyst spoke up. “So, now what?”

“Now, I finish what I started.” Rose replied. "I should have known the diamonds would be so petty as try to destroy Earth right under my nose. I'm going to end this conflict once and for all at my trial."

“Indeed.” A voice interrupted. In the doorway stood Zircon.

"Zircon!?" Steven asked surprised. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"Believe me, I didn't think I'd still be here either...Steven, right? The diamonds told me everything."

Rose walked up to the lawyer. "Thank you for defending my son."

"Just doing my job, Rose Quartz. Now then, tell me how you got close to Pink Diamond." 

"I don't entirely know myself. All I do know is that I got an anonymous tip telling me where Pink Diamond would be. When I went their, she came out of palanquin by herself, and I struck. I meant to take her hostage, negotiate her freedom for Earth, but..."

"Then the idea of an inside job still stands."

"I have something else that can help my case, but I will need my sword." 

 "Ah yes, the weapon used for the murder, where is it?"

"On Earth."

Zircon looked nervous. "On Earth..."

"Just take me to Lars, I can get it and bring it here, no problem." Steven said hastily. 

"Lars?" Zircon asked.

"The human used as evidence in the trial."

Zircon considered for a moment. "Wait here."

As Zircon left the room, Bismuth spoke up. "You know, when the girls told me you killed Pink Diamond three hundred years after you bubbled me, I almost laughed."

Rose looked reluctant. "It's not like I enjoyed it, I didn't intended to either."

"I'll say, you would have taken the Breaking Point if you had."

"I only ever used it as an interrogation tool."

"What I don't understand is, you asked me to make that sword so it wouldn't hurt the gem. Why would they think it was the murder weapon?"

"Because I thought it was as well. I should have known something was up." Rose replied.

"What do you mean?"

Before Rose could reply, the door opened again, and Zircon stood with the human.

"Lars!" Steven cried. He ran over to Lars and hugged him. "What happened?"

"That little blue twerp found us and took us to one of those giant ladies who were at you trial. I don't know where the others are." Lars replied.

"Did they experiment on you?"

Lars was silent for a moment. "Yes, they did. I can't even begin to describe the things they did. I held out as long as I could, but..."

"It's okay Lars. Mom is going to end it all today. I just need to go back and get something for her."

Lars go on all four and Steven went into his hair.

"Man, Steven wasn't kidding, he is pink." Amethyst said surprised.

Lars looked up at her. "And your purple, your point?"

"She's just surprised." Rose replied.

Lars looked at her. "Your...your his mom, aren't you."

Rose chuckled. "Yes, you beautiful jerk, I am."

Lars blushed. "I'm sorry I called you dumb that one time, I didn't mean it. I was just frustrated."

"No need to apologize, but I do think your using the wrong definition of "cool" when it comes to those kids."

Lars looked confused. Before he could say anything, Steven pop out from his hair. As he tumbled out, sword and scabbard followed. Zircon took Lars back to the evidence room, and the case was put together.

"Come with me." Zircon announced when they had finished.

Zircon led them to the room where Steven's trial was held. As they approached the door, Garnet hunched over and groaned.

“Garnet, you okay?” Steven asked.

“I…can’t…keep…it…together.” She grunted. In a flash, she split in two.

“Hey, what gives?” Ruby asked as she got up.

“The diamonds surrounded themselves with a no fuse zone. They didn’t want to be subjugated to your “abomination” as they put it.” Zircon answered. 

“Leave it to diamond to see emotion as ugly.” Sapphire said simply.

Ruby looked up at Rose. “Geez Rose, it’s hardly worth crying over.” Rose Quartz touched her face to feel large tears trailing down her cheeks.

“Blue Diamond.” Steven said suddenly. 

"What does she have to do with anything?" Ruby asked.

"Blue Diamond has a kind of radiated pathokinesis. Whenever she feels sad, she emits an aura that induces her feelings onto other. It really faint now, so it wouldn't affect the rest of you. But I'm affected because...I know her pain."

Rose wiped away the tears. The diamond sized tears where going to make this more difficult than it was already going to be. The door opened and everyone went in. Before them sat Blue and Yellow Diamond. Sure enough, the waterworks started up again, and Rose struggled to wipe away the tears but they just kept coming. Yellow Diamond’s stoic face contorted into a smug grin at the sight.

“You can’t live with yourself, can you Rose Quartz?” she asked in a haughty tone.

Rose looked up at the diamonds. “No, I can't believe I'm dealing with gems thousands of years old, but still act like five year old children. I mean, the cluster? Just how petty do you have to be to waste time and resources on a one time use weapon just to destroy a planet?”

Yellow Diamond growled and clenched her first while Blue Diamond got up from her chair and crouched down in front of Rose, lifting her face from her chin.

“I’ve forgotten how elegantly she had designed you.”

Rose smacked the diamond’s hand away. “Just get it over with.”

“Oh, we're about to.” A new voice replied.

Everyone turned to see a large gem with spiky hair and a diamond shaped gem in her forehead. Blue Diamond returned to her seat at the sight of her.

“White Diamond.” Pearl growled between grinding teeth.

White Diamond looked down at the pearl. “I can’t believe you survived.”

“It seems you didn’t know what it is you gave away.” Pearl retorted.

White Diamond snorted and fixed her gaze on Rose Quartz. “Your little rebellion weakened Homeworld and the gem race severely, and the many species we thought we eliminated in colonization joined forces against us, the resulting war had been draining our resources and pushing us to extinction.” She sneered as she made her way to her chair and sat down.

Rose chuckled. “It’s called karma, and your dose was long overdue.”

"Call it whatever you like, it doesn't change the fact you are at our mercy." White Diamond breathed out. "Rose Quartz, you are being charged with the murder of Pink Diamond. How do you plead?"

"Not Guilty."

Blue Diamond raised an eyebrow. "How interesting."

 "Yes, very interesting. Why are you here? We can handle this trial ourselves." Yellow told White.

"Really? After what I heard, I don't think you can." White retorted. "Now, let's start with the prosecution."

The yellow zircon that had prosecuted before step forward, her original air of confidence gone. "I call Ruby Facet 1F4 Cut 4ND to the stand." The stand rised to reveal the ruby once again on the stand. "You've been updated on current events?"

"Yeah, I have." Eyeball replied. She turned to Steven. "Sorry, Kid. Thanks for healing me, and for your concern."

"It's nothing." Steven replied.

The zircon cleared her throat. "You where there to witness Pink Diamond's shattering, correct?"

"Yeah." Eyeball replied.

"Please tell the court what happened."

 "Pink Diamond wanted to go to Earth for some reason, so we did. We travel for some time until her palanquin stopped. She told us to stay where we were while she took care of something really quick. Then one of her sapphires foresaw her in trouble, so we went out to help her. I saw Rose Quartz jump out from behind some green thing and go straight for Pink Diamond with her sword. Then my diamond's form turned to smoke, leaving only shards when it cleared away. She ran off before she could be caught." 

"That will be all." Yellow Zircon said nervously and stepped aside.

Zircon stepped up, unsheathing Rose's sword. "Is this the sword is question?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's it." Eyeball said as she ran her eye over it.

"I'm afraid this couldn't have done what you said it did." Zircon replied.

"Why not?"

Zircon raised the sword and stabbed Eyeball's gem. The ruby reflexively covered it with her hands. After a moment she pulled a hand away and felt the gem with the other.

"Not even a scratch." Yellow Diamond said in surprise.

"But she was shatter with that sword, the rest of her entourage can attest to that." Blue Diamond cried out.

"True, but if this sword can't hurt the gemstone, how could it have shattered a diamond?" Zircon asked.

White Diamond interjected. "We've seen enough."

"NO WE HAVEN'T" Blue shouted over her. Everyone looked at her. "I want to hear Rose's side of this." 

The platform rose until Rose was eye level with the diamonds.

"All I know is that a gem wanted to end the war, so offered Pink Diamond's location at a time, assuring me she would be defenseless. I only meant to take her as a hostage, to negotiate. Her for Earth. Of course, it didn't go according to plan. But as was demonstrated, I shouldn't have shattered her, only poof her."

"Poof?"

White Diamond groaned. "Look, the conclusion is obvious. Someone shattered Pink and pinned the blame on Rose Quartz."

"But who?" Blue asked.

"That doesn't matter, it's been millennia, and we haven't seen anything like this since. My guess, who ever this is has no reason to try such a thing again." she turned Rose Quartz. "We hereby find you not guilty of the murder of Pink Diamond. However, there is the matter of treason..." 

"Unfortunately for you, White Diamond, you only tried me for Pink Diamond's murder. As such, no other charges can be brought up, and you don't have leverage against us." the quartz replied.

The diamond looked flustered, but quickly straightened herself. "Gemkind is in its hour of need. As much as I hate to admit it, you won the rebellion, and we need a military mind like yours. Would you be so kind..."

The pink quartz shook her head. “I refuse to play the game of war again.”

“You rather your own species die out?” Yellow Diamond asked.

“For all the harm you’ve done to the universe, I can’t say it’d bother me too much.” Rose replied.

“Why you…” Yellow began, but Blue Diamond held up a hand, silencing her.

“I can understand her point. For too long, we’ve underestimated just what organic lifeforms have been capable of; I’ve seen it first hand for myself.” She turned to Rose, “We’ve been foolish, I can see that now, but do we really need to die over something we ignorant on?”

“Yes!” Ruby shouted. “Why should you be shown any mercy if you refuse to anyone else any?”

Blue Diamond scowled, lunged forward and grabbed the ruby.

“You’re only proving her point.” Sapphire put in.

She got a massive hand wrapped around her as a response. The diamond picked them up. “I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you two from the human zoo.”

“Go ahead, you monster, crush us! See what happens!” Sapphire shouted.

Blue Diamond paused. “Me, a monster?” she asked honestly.

“You ordered me shattered for an accident. I was trying to protect her and we fused by mistake.” Ruby replied.

“It’s true, I saw it for myself.” Rose added.

Blue Diamond looked at the gems in her hands, then at Rose. Why did Pink have to put so much of herself into the prototype Rose Quartz? She bent over and released Ruby and Sapphire.

“I’m sorry.” She said simply. “I reacted that instant and  gave the order in unwarranted anger.” Ruby looked surprised, and Sapphire was stunned silent.

Rose Quartz however, spoke up again. “You know what, maybe there’s hope for the gem race after all.” She looked serious. “I’ll clean up your mess, but under three conditions.”

White Diamond sighed heavily. “What are they?”

“One, you leave the planet Earth alone, even after this is all over.” Yellow Diamond growled and clenched her fists. “You’re not the invincible gods you make yourselves out to be, and you need a constant reminder of the fact, get over it.” Rose snapped.

Yellow Diamond sat back in her chair. “What are the other conditions?” she asked, irritated.

“Two, the human zoo is to be dismantled, the humans in it to be released to Earth, and all my sisters are to be released from their bubbles.”

"And?" White Diamond asked her.

"Off color gems are to be allowed to live on Homeworld and all gem colonies without the threat of shattering hanging above them." All three diamond faces tensed at once. "You want me to save gemkind, right? Well that means ALL gems, not just the ones you want."

Yellow Diamond sighed heavily. "Alright. Of course, we have keep it a secret that we are working with the Crystal Gems, so you'll be sent any relevant data and will work from your base."

"I don't think that will be enough." Blue Diamond put in. "I think a full pardon is an order."

“A full pardon?” Pearl echoed. She looked at Rose. “We can’t pass that up.”

“Yes, I want to be able to come back to Homeworld without the threat of being broken constantly hanging above me.” Lapis added.

“For what reason?” Rose asked the diamonds.

“We’ll need you to come here every now and again, and you will be monitored from Homeworld presences within your base.” White Diamond answered.

“So we can come and go as we please, so long as we don’t reveal that we’re the Crystal Gems, am I right?” Bismuth asked.

“Yes.” White Diamond replied.

Bismuth snorted. “Typical Homeworld upper crust, always have to be in control of the course of history.”

“It’s come back to bite them now, hasn’t it?” Rose asked her.

Bismuth grunted, then smiled. “Well, it does seem that the tables have turn.”


	5. At the Zoo

White and Yellow Diamond got up from their chairs and left the room, leaving Blue Diamond to deal with the Crystal Gems. "Your base will have to be renovated before you can start.”

“How long will that take?" Greg asked.

"It'll be finished before you know it.” Blue Diamond replied.

"In the meantime, can you let Lars and the off colors go? And let Ruby and Sapphire fuse again?" Steven asked.

Blue Diamond snapped her fingers. "You may fuse." Ruby and Sapphire did so immediately. "Funny, I don't remember it looking like that."

"I've had time to pull myself together." Garnet replied.

" Indeed, Zircon." the diamond ordered.

Zircon snapped her fingers. A beam of light appeared and lowered Lars to the ground.

"Ah, geez, not again with this." he groaned.

"At least you weren't used as evidence this time." Steven put in.

"You are dismissed, Zircon. Pearl, take them to that group of off colored gems that was captured earlier. Then meet me at my dock."

"To carry out the last of the deal?" Garnet asked.

The diamond nodded in agreement. “We’ll go to the zoo in my ship.”

Zircon had already left, so the Crystal Gems followed the blue pearl out of the court room and to another. Blue Pearl opened to door to reveal the off colors within.

"Guys!" Steven cheered, running up to them.

"Steven? Good to see you again." Fluorite said slowly.

"Good to see you too, you'll never guess what mom did..."

"We know," one of the rutiles interrupted.

"Padparadscha told us." the other finished.

"Everyone, the Crystal Gems will be brought here! We'll see Steven and Lars again!" Padparadscha proclaimed.

 After a moment of exacerbation, Rhodonite looked over at the other Crystal Gems. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, running up to Garnet. "How did you get such a cohesive look?"

Garnet smiled. "Regeneration."

While the two fusions spoke, the other off colors came closer. Fluorite came up to Rose. "Thank you very much."

"Oh, it was nothing, I had quite a few off colors fight for me." Rose replied. "So, six huh?"

"Indeed, of course, it had taken quite a while."

"I wish my love life had been so simple."

"Oh? how many?"

"Well, I didn't really understand romantic love all that well, so 212 relationships where..."

Rose stopped as Fluorite stared in shock. "Oh my, I'd hate to see that fusion."

"They were with humans. It wasn't until I meet this one..." Rose wrapped an arm around Greg. "...that I learned what real romantic love was."

"I understand. It took me 200 years to get to where I am now."

"Good for you, it took me 5,000 years."

Fluorite stared again until Rhodonite spoke up. "Well, it been nice, but we've got to figure out our new lives on Homeworld."

"Indeed, it won't be easy to integrate into society." Fluorite replied. "Many of the gems won't want to abide by the new rule."

"I believe in you guys," Steven spoke up, "after all, you're survivors."

"Steven is right."

"We did make it this far." the rutiles put in.

 "Blue Diamond's ship is ready." Padparadscha said aloud.

"Then we should get going." Pearl replied.

The two groups said their goodbyes and Blue Pearl led the Crystal Gems to Blue Diamond's ship.

"Are all of your ships shaped like body parts?" Greg asked as the got aboard.

The blue pearl only looked at him. She led them to the bridge, where Blue Diamond was waiting for them.

"I'm surprised you didn't shatter them when you had the chance." Garnet told her.

"Well, I guess it just goes to show I'm not the not the monster you make me out to be." the diamond replied.

“My diamond!” a distressed voice cried. A blue agate stood in the doorway.

“What is it, Agate?” Blue Diamond asked.

“The troops have returned, another loss I’m afraid. But that’s not the worst of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your second in command perished in battle.”

Blue Diamond looked pained. “Benitoite.” She said sadly.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Rose began, “but I do know someone who could probably take her place.”

Blue Diamond looked confused. “You do?”

“Yes, but I’m afraid it’s a rather long story. But you did want to know how Greg got back to Earth."

* * *

 Holly Blue Agate sat in office conflicted. Blue Diamond had contacted her earlier, telling her that she was bringing the Crystal Gems to the zoo. How long ago had it been since that day? The rebels had forced her to treat her quartz squadron with respect and as equals. At first, it got under her skin, but she soon saw that the gems under her command where more cooperative and did a better job than ever before. The environment as a whole became…better, or at least more tolerable. But this went against everything hardwired into her. These gems where below her, the pearl who told her off especially so. So why does the contrary work better?

“Holly Blue Agate, Blue Diamond is coming.” An Amethyst in the doorway informed her.

Holly Blue looked up at her. “Thank you, 8XJ. I will go greet her now.” She got up from her chair and walked to the docking bay. The large blue palanquin landed gently on the floor. The large figure of Blue Diamond emerged from within. “My Diamond, so nice to…”

“I know about your little slip up, Holly Blue Agate.” The diamond said shortly.

Holly looked shocked. “Forgive me, my diamond. I will not fail you again.”

“You best not, especially not after your promotion.”

“Of course, my diamond…PROMOTION!?” Holly Blue asked shocked.

“Yes, my second in command has died in the latest battle of our war, and you were recommended to take her place.”

Holly was overwhelmed with joy, “Thank you, my diamond. I shall not disappoint you again. When can I assume position?”

“Right now, if you please.”

“Of course, your orders, my diamond.”

“This facility is going to be shut down and dismantled. I want you to gather the troops and have them ready for reassignment. They will be joining the war efforts. Am I understood, Commander Holly Blue Agate?”

“Yes, my diamond, I’ll see to it now.” Holly Blue rushed off. “We’ll release the other rose quartzes to join them.” Blue Diamond told Rose.

Rose nodded, and Blue Diamond led them to Pink Diamond’s Room. When they arrived, the diamond picked a handful of bubbles from the ceiling and popped them with one clench of her fist. They began to regenerate soon after. Unlike the Crystal Gem Rose Quartz, these Rose Quartz where more like typical Homework soldiers, uniforms with pink diamonds on the front and shaggy hair the same shade of pink as that of the leader of the Crystal Gems. One looked at Rose when she had finished.

“You!” she accused.

“What about me?” Rose asked.

“It was your fault we ended up like that. Pink Diamond bubbled all of us up at the start of your rebellion. She was afraid we'd get a similar idea. Where is she?”

Rose was quiet before she answered her sister. “Shattered by an unknown perpetrator.”

The other quartzes were stunned. “Pink Diamond was shattered? HOW!? OR BETTER YET, WHY!?” one asked.

“I don't know.”

“But we do know you betrayed your own kind for short lived organics. You even brought some here.”

“You know nothing about the life on Earth, you can’t judge.” Steven shouted. “I’m getting tired of you gems looking down on other lifeforms you never take the time to get to know.”

The other roses looked at each other, then at him. One spoke up. “I can crush your soft, fleshy body and kill you in two seconds, what more do we need to know?”

“You’d be surprised.” Rose said. She would have elaborated, but Blue Diamond had finished her task and spoke up.

“All of you will be reassigned to another diamond and prepped for battle, go to the docking bay now.”

The Crystal Gems watched as the roses marched to the docking bay. The quartz squad already assembled was surprised.

“Where were they all this time?” Carnelian asked.

“If I had to guess, bubbled up in Pink Diamond’s Room.” Skinny replied. “It was a Rose Quartz that started the rebellion after all.”

“Wut up fam?” Amethyst called as the Crystal Gems made their way to the front of the squadron.

“It’s 8XM” 8XL exclaimed.

“That’s right fam, and I brought the whole team this time. Including the gem that started it all.” She gestured towards Rose. They gathered around the Crystal Gems and began speaking at once.

“One at a time.” Rose spoke over all the voices.

“Enough!” Holly Blue shouted. “Get back in position.”

“It’s okay, Commander,” Blue Diamond comforted. “It’s a natural response to a gem such as her.”

“All the same, my diamond would appreciate the job to be over and done with, no?” Holly asked.

“Very well Holly Blue Agate,” the diamond conceited, “I’ll handle the troops, you will help the Crystal Gems with the humans, transport will be ready for them shortly.”

“Yes, my diamond.” Holly Blue saluted. Blue Diamond cleared her throat. “It is time to leave.”

The quartz soldiers got in formation again and followed the diamond to a pod ready to take them aboard the ship, leaving the Crystal Gems with the agate. Holly glared at them, eyeing up Rose in particular.

“Tell me, was it worth it?” she asked flatly.

"I didn't shatter her." Rose replied sternly.

"I know that, my diamond told me before you arrived. No, I want to know if starting the rebellion brought you what you wanted."

Rose remained stoic. “That depends on how you look at it. On one hand, the fact that many gems died in my rebellion haunts me every day. On the other, the many species of Earth wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t.”

Holly’s expression softened. “I’ve never seen a quartz use nuance before.” She turned to Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl and Steven. “I actually have to thank you for your intrusion, I learned something very important since then.” She turned on her heals, “Come along, then.” Holly lead the Gems to the door to the human enclosure and opened it. “I can’t imagine how you’ll get them to leave. They wouldn’t want to go to a new environment they know nothing about.”

Rose didn’t reply, she only walked through the door, Steven and Greg following behind her. The others opted to wait outside.

“I wonder if they’re still heartbroken?” Greg wondered aloud as they ventured deeper into the room.

“I doubt it, those quartz soldiers seemed like a good bunch, I’m sure they’d have taken care of them.” Rose replied.

Steven spoke up. “Then how are you going to convince them to live on Earth? They have no idea how to take care of themselves, they’ve relied on other to provide everything for them.”

Rose turned to her son. “I have an idea.” A nearby bush rustled. Mother and son turned to the sound just a head pop out.

“Ste-van!” J-10 exclaimed, then noticed Greg. "Oh, hello Gr-eg" he said with a hint of bitterness. "Where have you been?  We couldn't find you since the choosening.”

“Oh jeez, I’m really sorry about that.” Greg replied. "But you have to understand I chosen someone already."

"Who?' J-10 asked.

“He chose me.” Rose replied.

J-10 looked surprised. "You choosen a gem?" 

"Well, yeah. I mean, I know it's a bit strange a first, but..." Greg replied uncomfortably. 

J-10 looked at Rose. “What kind of gem are you?”

“I’ll answer all of your questions later. Bring the rest of the humans here. Tell them that we've come to take you to a new home.” Rose replied. J-10 disappeared into the foliage and return with the rest of the zoomans.

“Where are you taking us?” Y-7 asked.

“To the birthplace of humanity, the planet Earth.” Rose replied.

“Why?” another zooman asked.

“The gems have to take this building apart; you won’t be able to live anywhere else.”

The zoomans, still confused but satisfied, followed the family out the enclosure and into the main hall.

Holly Blue was surprised. “How did you get them to follow you?” she asked.

“That gem has funny hair.” A zooman said astonished.

“This happens to be in style for agates this orbit.” Holly replied agitated.

“So you can understand humans. You know Holly, it was very rude of you to pretend you didn’t so you can feel superior.” Steven pointed out.

Holly looked flustered. “That was the old me. Anyway, we can get them to Earth now.” Holly led the gems and humans to the ship. “I’m afraid the humans have to be kept on a lower level, the crew would no appreciate them getting in the way of operations.”

“That’s fine, we can keep them occupied.” Rose replied.


	6. Diamond Standard

The two diamond walked out of the court room, leaving their sister to handle the Crystal Gems.

"We need to talk, now." Yellow Diamond said harshly.

"In my control room." White replied. The diamonds made their way to the room, passing many other gems along the way. "Here we are."

White opened the door.

"Pearl, wait out here." Yellow Diamond ordered before going in. "You shouldn't have shown up. She's going to investigate the matter, and soon enough, she'll figure out what you did."

"Oh, you were doing better job at covering for me? White asked. "Because I gathered your behavior at the last trial made you seem suspicious." 

"You know how I am, and so does she. Blue wouldn't suspect me. But given you're habit of locking yourself in here, and the fact your didn't show up for the first trial, that'll raise some questions from her. Besides, you made the same mistakes I did."

White sat down in her chair. "That doesn't matter, yet. So long as Rose Quartz cleans up our mess, I don't care what Blue finds out. But, that does raise the question of how  _you_ found out, Yellow."

Yellow Diamond's face showed shame. "I looked at her goedata."

White Diamond sat up. "Yellow, you're not suppose to look at another gem's geodata without their consent, it's the first law about we made when the technology was created."

"Yes, I know! But I wanted to know how a mere quartz could shatter a diamond, and by your own admission, she couldn't have." Yellow sighed. "And as much as it pained me to find out, I have to admit you were right to do it."

White looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yes. Pink was always...she could have been a better leader. But she was too emotional, too compassionate. She got too close to the gems under her, and led  to a show of weakness when Rose turned on her. The last thing we needed as a weak link breaking us."

White nodded. "I'm glad you could see reason. I know both you and Blue were close with her. I hope you understand why I kept it from you."

"Yes, but I believe me, Blue won't be as understanding when she finds out."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." 

* * *

 "What!?" Aquamarine could not believe what she had just heard.

"Rose Quartz had been innocent all this time." Blue Diamond repeated. "From what was learned from the trial, I believe there is a traitor in our mists. Whoever they are, they played both us and the Crystal Gems for fools. I want to find out the truth, and I need you to start the investigation."

"You can count on me, my diamond."

"Good, keep this on the down low, and start right away. All the information regarding this matter has been sent to you already. I will join you once I've finished with the Crystal Gems."

Aquamarine saluted her and Blue Diamond ended the call just as Holly Blue Agate arrived at the ship's bridge.

 “The humans are aboard, my diamond.” She reported.

“Good, to Earth then.” Blue Diamond said simply from under her hood.

For the first time in her life, Holly Blue Agate wondered why her diamond always wore a hood in the public eye. She debated whether to ask or not, but was interrupted by another voice.

“My diamond, will you be needing me for the voyage?” Blue Diamond’s pearl asked.

“No.” the diamond replied, “You are excused.” The pearl bowed and left.

“Just between you and me, commander, I know what she’s going to do.”

“My diamond is quite generous.” Holly Blue replied.

Blue Diamond paused for a moment. “Suck up like that again, and I’ll demote you.”

“My apologies, my diamond.” Holly said reflexively. “May I ask just what your pearl intends to do?”

“She intends to meet the infamous renegade pearl.”

* * *

 Blue Pearl made her way the barracks. She could see the Crystal Gems focusing on the humans. Fortunately, the renegade pearl was at the back, closest to her.

“Excuse me.” She asked quietly as she tapped the other pearl’s shoulder.

Pearl turned around. “Yes, sister?” she asked.

Blue hesitated for a moment. “I saw you wield swords at the sky arena all those years ago. Do you think I can do such things?”

“Of course.” Pearl replied. “All pearls can be more than another gem’s toy.”

“I’m more than my diamond’s plaything.” Blue Pearl said defensively. “She hasn’t been herself ever since…well, you know. She has looked to me for comfort in the years that followed.”

“I know the feeling.” Pearl replied.

“I just can’t believe someone would have the courage to oppose a diamond. Much less win.” Blue Pearl was surprised when Rose Quartz turned to face her.

“For me, I needed the right motivation.”

“What motived you?” Blue Pearl asked.

“To save the life on Earth from destruction.”

“What was so special about that life?”

“I thought it was all beautiful.”

“I see.” Blue Pearl said after a while. “I must go now.” She bowed politely and left.

No sooner when she was out of sight, a voice come over a loud speaker. “We have arrived at Earth, prepare for landing."


	7. First Night Back

"So what's the plan Mom?" Steven asked.

"I think the best place for them is mask island." Rose replied.

"Would they be okay with living among watermelons and strange magic creatures?" 

"If those watermelon people can make a civilization, surely these humans can too. You can get them to teach these guys, right?"

"I can try."

They made their way to the bridge, and told the pilot where to go. While the Crystal Gems were beamed down to the surface with the humans, Blue Diamond contacted the building team renovating their base.

"Have you finished it?"

"It's done, my diamond." The bismuth on the other end replied.

"Good, expect us soon." 

The Crystal Gems returned shortly afterwards.

"Okay, you can take us home now." Steven said.

Blue Diamond nodded, and the ship flew to the temple, dropping the Crystal Gems in front of it. They stood in awe of what was in front of them. The monumnet had been restored, and even slightly reshaped so that it wasn't holding the house, but rather surrounded it with it's hands in a tent shape. Gone was the small structure that was held within it's hands. Instead, a modern beachhouse sat within the space between two large hands.

"Wow, this is incredible." Greg said in amazement. 

"Compared to what structures usually have to be build, that's nothing." Bismuth put in. Greg looked at her confused. "I should know, I use to be a construction worker."

Lars looked down at Steven. "Man, you're lucky, Steven."

"I guess..." Steven replied, "but I'm going to miss the old house."

"I'm going to miss my old life. How am I going to face my parents like this?" Lars asked.

"Don't worry about that. I told them about happened when I returned. They'll be to happy to see you again to care."

"I did miss them the most." Lars thought aloud. "Alright, I'll see you guys later." With that, Lars took his leave.

"Sorry about getting you kidnapped!" Peridot shouted as Lars walked away.

Lars stopped and turned back. "Wait, you...you know what, I don't want to know. I forgive you." Lars turned back and continued walking.

"He'll want to know later." Garnet said matter of factly.

The Crystal Gems went inside. The house's interior was even more impressive than the outside. Style and luxury painted every corner of every room, on the first floor at least. Even more impressive was that there was a room for everyone, along with a guest bedroom and master bath on the second floor, and a finished basement with a rec room, laundry room, and what appeared to be solider barracks on top of that. They gathered in the living room when they had finished exploring.

"Wow, those gems really went all out." Amethyst said impressed.

"Naturally." a somewhat familiar voice interrupted. On the living room warp pad stood five familiar rubies. "Yellow Diamond ordered us to keep on eye on you Crystal Gems, so don't go trying anymore tricks, could we're not falling for them." Doc said sternly. 

Bismuth burst out laughing. "You. Not fall for anymore tricks. Oh please, we could trick you a thousand and you still wouldn't learn."

"We could too, I pulled a good one on those three." Navy replied indignantly. 

Peridot spoke up. "Indeed. Come on Lapis, let's get our things from the barn."

Doc turned to Army. "Go with them." Army grunted and the three gems left. "Rubies, to the barracks."

"Actually, I wanted to take the first watch." Navy said suddenly.

"Suit yourself." Doc replied, and the other rubies walked out of the room.

"Right, who wants dinner?" Pearl asked after a moment.

"You don't have to..." Greg started.

"No, no, I insist." Pearl was already making her way to the kitchen.

 Garnet then wordlessly took her leave. Bismuth was confused at this.

"Come on, Bismuth, I'll help you set up your room." Amethyst said to her.

"Okay, thanks." Bismuth replied, following Amethyst upstairs.

Rose was disappointed that Bismuth wasn't the only one who failed to pick up on her girls gesture. However, Navy seemed like she was trying to say something. Finally, she cleared her throat.

"You know, I understand why you did it. Start a rebellion. Earth has so much you don't see on Homeworld."

Steven raised an eyebrow. "You mean you were being genuine when you said you loved everything we showed you?"

"Just because I betrayed you, didn't mean I was faking everything." Navy replied. "In hindsight, I don't blame you for tricking us if you were afraid Homeworld would take everything away." Navy's face twisted into the creepy look she had given Steven when she had stole the Roaming Eye, disturbing the family. "Of course, you'll have to watch your step now."

"Are you going to let have dinner?" Greg asked.

 "Yes, just remember, we're watching you." With that, Navy left the room.

 An awkward silence hung in the air until Pearl spoke up again. "Dinner's ready." The three sat down, and Pearl served them dishes of chicken and potatoes with a salad side. "Enjoy." she said quickly, and left.

Steven broke the awkward silence that had returned. "You know, we're kind of like a regular earth family now." 

Rose and Greg looked at each other before smiling at him. "Of course we are. You deserve such a life anyway, Steven." Steven smiled. "Now eat up, it's bed time for you afterwards."

They finished their dinner and got ready for bed. Steven stood in front of the door of his new room. His gem glowed as the door opened. His room had all his stuff moved in, along with a generic wall set up. "I'll have to work this room later." he said to himself as he got in bed.

There was a knock at his door. "Can I come in?" Rose asked. Steven opened the door, and his mother entered. She walked over and pulled the sheets over her son. "Goodnight Steven." She said softly, and kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight Mom." Steven yawned.

Rose Quartz walked quietly out of the room and towards her own. Greg already in bed, sleeping soundly. Rose shook her head got in with him.


	8. Uncorrupted

Blue Diamond was surprised to find Yellow waiting for her at the docking bay when her ship returned.

"Come with me, please." Yellow Diamond said simply.

Blue followed her to another room, where White Diamond was waiting for them. 

"Yellow, what are we doing here?" Blue asked.

Yellow turned to her pearl. "Pearl, bring it out." Yellow Pearl took Jasper's bubble from her gem. "We are going to cure her."

"Are you sure we can?"  Blue asked. "We never developed a cure for the corrupting light."

"I have come up with a solution. If we play the mind song in reverse, it should undo the corruption."

"Yellow, wouldn't that only work for gems that were affected by the corrupting light?" White asked.

"I have  a feeling that it relates to her corruption." Yellow replied. "Now then, let get on with it. Pearl, release her."

Yellow Pearl popped the bubble and Jasper reformed. She roared at the three diamond when her beastly form was finished.

"Disgusting." Yellow commented. The beast roared again and charged at them. "Ready, take aim." Yellow ordered. The diamond raised their arms and held out their hands. "Fire."

Energy burst from their hands, striking the corrupted gem all at once. The song that had damaged so many rang out, but backwards.

"Okay, that's enough." White called out when the song was finished. 

The diamonds stopped firing and lowered their hands. Where the beast once was, a jasper stood on all four.

"Get up." Yellow ordered.

Jasper looked up at her. "Get cracked." she grunted.

"We didn't have to cure you." Yellow stated matter of factly.

"But you did, meaning you need me." Jasper smirked. "Meaning I'm the one with power here."

"How dare you speak to your diamond in such a manner!"

"You're not my diamond!"

"You never knew her!" Silence filled the room before Yellow Diamond spoke again. "Get up and make yourself useful."

Jasper climbed to her feet. "Alright, what do you want from me."

"To do what you've been doing to the past five thousand years."

Jasper saluted the diamond. "As you wish." she replied sarcastically.

Just as she turned to leave, Yellow Diamond called to her. "How did you get corrupted?"

Jasper continued on her way without answering. She couldn't be bothered when she was suffering a headache.

 


	9. Suspicions and Introductions

Blue Diamond left without another word and returned to her control room. Aquamarine was waiting for her when she arrived.

"My diamond." the little gem greeted with a salute.

Blue nodded and the two entered when her pearl opened the door.

"What have you come up with so far?" she asked.

"Given what data I had to work with, not much. For what I can gather, Pink Diamond was shattered before hand, and the perpetrator set up Rose Quartz to take the fall. I believe a pearl holocopy of Pink Diamond was used to get the shards to Rose Quartz based on eye witness accounts from the entourage. However, the perp seemed to have known that this would shake up Rose as well as Homeworld. The records so show a decline in Crystal Gem performance after the "murder" during the second half of the rebellion."

"Is that all?" the diamond asked disappointed.

"Well, I would have more if I could figure out who was the gem who tipped Rose off. It seems this gem was working for the true murderer."

Blue Diamond sighed. "Who this is did well to cover their track. If only there was another source of information."

Aquamarine cleared her throat. "You know my diamond, you could just look at Pink Diamond's geodata..."

"NO!" Aquamarine looked shaken. "I will not violate her privacy like that."

"My diamond, surely she would want you to find who killed her so that you can bring her to justice."

Blue Diamond considered. "I suppose you are right." She brought up a holoscreen and began searching. "Ah, here it is." She press on the file with her finger, but was met with a red message instead of the data. "I've been denied access! How can this be? The only one who can do restrict a diamond out of the geodata files is...White."

Quickly, Blue pulled up White's geodata file. The message now read _You do not have permission to access this file_.

"We'll see about that." Blue said to herself, inputting the diamond override code. Still, she was denied. 

"My diamond." Aquamarine spoke up, "you don't suppose..."

"I do." Blue replied.

"But one diamond killing another? It doesn't make sense."

"White was never as close to Pink as Yellow Diamond as I were. She never liked the way Pink was so...affectionate. I have no doubt she would murder Pink if she saw the opportunity, or least thought she had a good reason." Aquamarine looked at her silently. "You said you be able to progress if you knew who tipped Rose Quartz off, correct."

"Yes, my diamond."

"Go to the Crystal Gem's base, and find out who this gem is. I suspect Rose Quartz will be willing to help you."

"I'll need an escort. Can I get the two Topazes from last time."

"You will not need an escort, you can warp there."

"Very well, my diamond." Aquamarine bowed and left.

* * *

Three quartz gems held her down, forcing her to watch as Pink Diamond stroke into the human settlement. Humans scrambled into their homes, but that did little to stop the diamond. She reached into one and pulled out a little boy.

"Mommy! Daddy!" he cried.

The parents came rushing out. "No! Please, give him back!" the mother begged.

Pink Diamond turned to face her. "Like my new trophy, Rose?" she asked mockingly.

"Let him go!" Rose cried out.

"No way. This one will make a fine addition to my zoo." Pink replied. With a snap of her fingers, a large pink gemship appeared. "Bye for now!" she called in mockingly cheerful tone as she was beamed up.

To Rose's surprise, the ship beeped as it flew away. The beeping continued when the ship was out of sight. Rose looked at the gems holding her down. The beeping came out of their mouths.

***

Rose stirred as she woke up. Greg was already out of bed and stretching. "You wake up to that everyday?" she asked.

"Have to. Cars wouldn't wash themselves." Greg replied.

Rose got out of bed. "I'll make you some breakfast."

She walked out of their room and into the bathroom. She absentmindedly reached for Steven's toothbrush, only to stop short when her mind caught up with her hand. She instead washed her face and polished her gem. Rose then made her way to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Greg came down shortly afterwords.

"What are you going to cook for us?" Greg asked.

Rose reached for a cookbook. "How about pancakes?"

Greg nodded. "Need help?"

Rose shook her head and began cooking. She made two and served Greg them with a cup of coffee. 

"Thank you, dear." Greg noticed Rose looked somewhat distressed. "What's wrong, Honey?" he asked.

"It's nothing. Rose replied.

Greg put his utensils down. "Rosy, if something is bothering you..."

"Just an old war memory." 

Greg knew Rose didn't like talking about it, so pick up his utensils and finished his breakfast. He got up and kissed Rose's cheek. "I'll be back later today."

Rose nodded and Greg left. She turned back to the kitchen to make more pancakes when she heard someone coming.

"Oh, Good morning Rose." Pearl said after a moment.

"Good morning Pearl." Rose looked over at her. "Want pancakes?"

Pearl looked disgusted. "Don't tell me you forgot that I don't eat regularly."

"Yet you can stomach tea?"

"Tea isn't as uncomfortable to digest as solid food."

"You know, you'd get use to it."

Pearl smiled. "Of course you'd know. You were worst than Amethyst during you pregnancy."

Rose looked behind them. "Speaking of which, good morning, Steven."

"Good morning, Mom." Steven replied, sitting down at the table. Rose served him some pancakes, and began eating, looking out the window as he did. "Mom..."

"Yes, son?" Rose asked.

"Is that a whole bunch of corrupted gems outside?" 

Pearl walked over to the window Steven was looking out and gasped. "It is! Rose, they're heading for the town!"

"Get the others, Steven." Rose ordered.

Steven nodded and ran upstairs. Rose and Pearl rushed outside, weapons drawn. Almost immediately, they began slashing at corrupted gems.

"I've never seen so many at one time. What can possibly cause this?" Pearl wondered aloud.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Bismuth soon joined the fray. "Steven went with Peridot to warn the townspeople." Garnet told them.

"Where's Lapis, we could really use her now." Rose put in.

"Peri said she went out for a morning flight, no telling when she'll get back." Amethyst answered.

 The Crystal Gem fought as hard as they could, but for every corrupted gem that got poofed, three more seemed to appear. 

"This is hopeless." Bismuth whined.

"We're going to need a miracle to get out of this one." Amethyst agreed.

Suddenly, the corrupted gems froze in place, a blue aura surrounding them. "Did someone say miracle?" a voice asked. The Crystal Gems turned the direction it had came. "I believe the phrase is "good things come in small packages". I'll give the humans credit for that saying." Aquamarine continued, tractor beam wand in hand.

Rose looked annoyed, but couldn't help but chuckle. She looked towards the town, only to notice Aquamarine had missed one. She took off running towards Beach City, but soon realized she couldn't catch it on foot. With a mighty jump, she launched herself and sailed through the air.

Meanwhile, Steven and Peridot stood face to face with what most could only describe as a giant blue beetle. They would notice the gemstone in it's forehead, but wouldn't think much of it. Still, it stood at the edge of the town, the citizens hiding in their homes for their own safety.

"Steven, what are we going to do?" Peridot asked. Both were unarmed with the corrupted gem approaching them. Steven stepped forward.

"The only thing we can do." he replied. The beetle stopped in it track, and appeared to get ready to charge at them. Just as it was about to, a pink streak landed on top of it, turning it to smoke. When said smoke cleared, Steven and Peridot looked upon their savior. "Thanks, Mom."

"MOM!" a voice asked. The three Crystal Gems turned to see the townspeople coming out the various buildings of Beach City. "What do you mean, Mom?"

Rose sighed. She and Steven had alot of explaining to do.


	10. Knowing Your Place

With the corrupted gem bubble and safely in the burning room, Steven, Rose and Greg (when he came forward from the crowd) explained Rose's sudden but not so recent presence. If the citizens of Beach City had more questions, they didn't ask. Finally, when the answers had been given, the townspeople went about their day, letting the Crystal Gems return to the beach.

As they walked, Steven seemed confused about something. "What's wrong Steven." she asked.

"I...I tried to summon my shield back there, but I couldn't." Steven replied.

"Well of course you couldn't, " Peridot said matter-of-factly, "you had Rose's gem. Now that it has been removed, you can't summon her weapon anymore."

"I guess that makes sense." 

Rose stopped and turned around to face him. "Try to summon a weapon." The boy looked at her blankly. "I know for fact you've had months of experience, summon a weapon."

Steven looked up at her and nodded. Focusing, he got himself in the proper mindset. ""Have to protect." he thought to himself. His new gem glowed, and a new shield formed in front of him. The shield itself was very similar to Rose's, pink with a silver border. However, instead of the rose and thorns design, a large yellow star decorated the front.

"Wow." Peridot said amazed.

"How quaint." Aquamarine interjected. The three turned to her. 

"Aquamarine!" Steven exclaimed.

"That's right, Steven. I must say though, it was rather foolish of you to claim to be Rose Quartz. Speaking of..." She flew over to Rose. "I was expecting something more impressive."

"You aquamarines are all the same, nothing without your toys. What do you want." Rose replied.

Aquamarine huffed. "You know, I can release these beasts from my grasp, right? I really don't think you want that." Rose could see the other Crystal Gems busily poof and bubbling the corrupted gems.  "I'm here because Blue Diamond wants me to investigate Pink Diamond's shattering." she continued. "You mentioned a gem who was willing to give Pink Diamond's location during your trial. I need to learn more about this gem for my investigation to move forward."

"I can't tell you much. The gem in question wore a large cloak."

"A cloak? As is a textile?"

"Yes."

"Gems hadn't used fabric clothing for hundred of years at the time. Why, only the elite kept those who could create such things around."

"Wait," Steven interjected, "gems used to wear clothes?"

"Not quite." Pearl answered, walking over to them. "Do you remember when I explained about gem shards after the whole Frybo fiasco, Steven?"

"Oh yeah, you said gem shards were used to make solider drones capable of following basic orders." Steven replied.

"Right, early in the diamond's regime for universal domination, gems weren't as...experienced militarily as they were today. As such, the gem army suffered heavy losses. To make up for this, military uniforms were created to be a body for the partial conciseness in each gem shard of fallen soliders. Of course, as the military got better and the drones became uncontrollable, this fell out of practice. In the years that followed, clothes became a luxury item for upper class gems." 

"Can you describe the cloak?" Aquamarine asked.

"Pearl, please show her a projection." Rose requested.

Pearl projected a fully colored holographic image of the gem in question. Aquamarine inspected it closely.

"Alrighty, I have everything I need." she said after a moment, and turned to the other Crystal Gems. "Hey, you lot finished yet?"

"Yeah." Amethyst called back.

Aquamarine turned off her tractor beam and put her wand back in her hair. "I might have to come back at some point."

"I'd be happy to help your investigation." Rose put in. "But are you sure you can figure out what happened.? It was 5,000 years ago after all, I can well imagine a lot of evidence has been lost to time."

"Don't you worry about that, Rose Quartz." Aquamarine assured. "I'm not the best of Blue Diamond's court for nothing."

With that, the little gem flew back inside the house, stood and the warp pad, and disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

With the headache she had ever since she was cured had gone, Jasper made her way to her new designated platoon. When she arrived, the other gems began to whisper.

"Isn't that the kindergarten quartz that could?"

"Yeah, she is."

"I heard she came out with her helmet on."

"I heard she shattered eighty Crystal Gems the very day she came out."

"Enough!" The Yellow Agate in charge shouted. She walked up to Jasper. "Jasper Facet 9 Cut 6AD?"

"Yeah." Jasper grunted.

"I don't care if you are a war hero, you will follow my orders to the letter, understand?"

"Yes ma'am." Jasper spat.

The agate huffed. "Get in position."

Yellow Agate put the platoon through a rigorous training that day. When they had finished for the day, She dismissed them, much to Jasper's relief. As Jasper made her way home, she had to pass through the local market. There, a non-fusion garnet selling polish sat behind her stand looking miserable.

"No sales today?" Jasper asked.

"No." Garnet replied. "It's life in general. Everyday, I sit here and sell polish. Why do garnets have to be salesgems anyway. I can do more than just sell things."

"No you can't." Jasper countered angrily. "Garnets weren't designed to fight battles or deal in politics. They were designed to sell products. You'd be wise to remember you place in the hierarchy."

The garnet looked at her in disgust. "The caste system may work for you, solider, but there are plenty of gems who don't agree with it. I've seen the truth, the diamond put it in place so that there authority will never be questioned. And trust me, they really need to be questioned on some of there recent choices."

"I should report you." Jasper threatened.

"You wouldn't say that if you were in my position." Garnet replied. 

"If I were in your position," Jasper said at last, "I'd watch my mouth and do my job." 

With that, she continued on her way. All the same, Jasper thought back to the time she had fused with a corrupted gem and got second hand corrupted. She would admit she had brought shame to Pink Diamond's good name in doing so, and the corruption was in fact, her punishment for her transgression. As it stood, a lesser gem would have accepted Rose's help, but she was not a lesser gem.  But even then, she wasn't so desperate that she'd follow Rose Quartz. However, given that there had to be gems that were dissatisfied with their place in the world even back then, it seem they went to Rose for a chance to escape their caste.

"Of course they'd follow a gem who offered them more when they had so little to lose." Jasper thought to herself.

Try as she might, the thought didn't bring her any comfort. Not when she could see that there were plenty of other gems that seem to share the same sentiment as the Garnet as she walked. 


	11. Making Progress

When she had returned home, Aquamarine began looking into the few gems who dealt in textiles. Each had a unique style to their work, and the way in which the cloak had been woven would tell her who had made it. Aquamarine projected the image from her wand. After careful inspection and comparisons, Aquamarine finally found an undeniable match.

"Moonstone." Aquamarine said to herself. 

Moonstone was an elite gem in White Diamond's court. Now that she didn't have to work with needle and thread, she worked as a form designer. Getting close to her would be easy enough, but getting her talk, not so much.

"I'm going to need backup on this one." Aquamarine thought to herself. "My diamond will understand." She flew out of her home and towards the military training grounds, finding who she was looking for soon enough. "Topaz Facet 5G Cut 6DF and 6DG."

The two topaz gems looked at her. "What are you doing here?" 6DF (the one with her gem on the left side of her head) asked.

"I need your help with an important assignment." Aquamarine replied.

"And what would that be?" Yellow Agate asked acusingly, coming towards them. The topaz gem saluted her nervously. Aquamarine didn't even flinch.

"That's classified. All you need to know is I need these two." she replied.

"So you want me to excuse these two from training for some assignment you're not at liberty to tell me? Sounds suspicious."

"You know what the big difference between you and I is?" Aquamarine asked, pulling out her wand. "You can easily be replaced." she pointed it at the agate. Yellow Agate stared at the wand.

"I need them back by the end the of the cycle."

"Very well." Aquamarine agreed and placed her wand back in her hair. She led the topazes to Moonstones abode. "You two go kick down the door and immobilize the gem inside."

The twin gems nodded and did as they were told.

"Hey, what are you doing, let go of me!" a voice cried from within.

Aquamarine made her entrance. "I'm sorry Moonstone, but I'm afraid this is all necessary."

Moonstone looked at her. "Why is that?"

Aquamarine pulled her wand from her hair and projected the imagine of the gem she was shown earlier. "I think you recognize this piece."

"Never seen it in my life." Moonstone replied.

"Topazes, show her what happen to gems who lie to me." Aquamarine ordered. 6DG got a hold of Moonstone's gem and squeezed it, making her yell in pain.

"My diamond made me swear to secrecy." Moonstone said desperately.

"Just tell me who is wearing the cloak, and no one will have to know." Aquamarine replied.

 "My diamond asked me to make it for her pearl." Moonstone replied.

"Thank you, Moonstone. You two can release her and return to base."

The topaz gems release Moonstone and left the building. Moonstone stared at her. "Our little secret." Aquamarine said with a wink, and flew out the door. She had to report to Blue Diamond.

* * *

 Eyeball was waiting for them when the Crystal Gems got back inside the house.

"Thanks for getting your team together to help us." Steven told her sarcastically.

"Our job was to watch over you, not fight your battles. So I don't know why your thanking me for that." Eyeball replied.

Just then, the sound of flapping cut through the air. Everyone turned to the door, where Lapis Lazuli landed.

"Guys, you'll never believe what I saw." she stated in a tone of disbelief.

"Try us." Steven replied.

"I was flying over one of the old kindergartens when this beam came down on the area. When it touched the ground, a large sphere thing rose from the earth in a intangible state. It looked like it was made of gem shards, and strangest of all, it was contained in a pink bubble."

"The cluster." Peridot murmured to herself. "That explains it."

"Explains what?" Pearl asked.

"Explains why those corrupted gems came out all at once."

"How?"

"I'll only confuse everyone if I try to explain that. What's important is that Yellow Diamond has found another use for it, she wouldn't have arranged it's removal otherwise."

Pearl snorted. "Of course, why waste a weapon of mass destruction during a war."

"But how?" Steven asked. "If it's not in a planet..."

"I don't know." Peridot answered solemnly.

It was quiet for a moment before Rose spoke up. "I...I suppose I should start looking at the data the diamond said they would send us."

"Come with me." Peridot said, and led Rose to her room. Everyone else went on with their day.

* * *

 Shifting though field reports, reconnaissance scans and enemy intelligence was nothing new to Rose Quartz. Indeed, she had to do alot of it during the Rebellion, and even before that for Pink Diamond. Still, she had forgotten how boring it can all be. However, as she read through it all, she came across a file that stood out among the rest. It contained reports of highly influential gems dying the same way. Further reading revealed a profile of the killer, but all it contained was a nickname and a slightly blurred photo of a feminine form in a skintight pink and blue jumpsuit with white trimming wearing a matching helmet that bore a strange visor. A kind of sword seemed to hang on her back. 

"Peridot, what do you know about the Jeweler?" Rose asked.

Peridot paused and turned around. "The Jeweler? They say she's unstoppable, and any gem she marks for death will die within the week. Any gem who has faced her never lives to tell the tale. She'll be quite the enemy to deal with."

Rose looked at the photo again and decided to print it. Later, when she had gone through enough data to send some battle plans for homeworld's current campaign, she showed it to Garnet.

"I have a feeling we are going to meet this person face to face. Are we?" Rose asked simply.

Garnet looked at the photo for a moment. "Odds are we will."

Rose sighed. "That's what I was afraid of."

 


	12. Battle Preparations

Most soldiers have to share barracks when on Homeworld on one of its colonies. Jasper wasn't most soldiers. She was war hero, a model soldier, and the most perfect specimen of quartz to ever come from a kindergarten. After the war, she was awarded a house of her own, something most soldiers could only dream of.  Jasper herself would admit that she liked living on her own, but it had its disadvantages. For one, she had to wake up earlier than the other soldiers to get to the base in time for briefing and training. Today was especially bad, thanks in no small part to her headache returning, and it was even worse this time around.

"Why me?" she asked herself, making her way to the base.

When she arrived, Yellow Agate approached her. "Come with me." she ordered. She led Jasper to her office and pulled up a holoscreen. An envelope icon was displayed in the center of the screen. "This message came for you."

Jasper tapped the icon and read the message. 

_You must answer for your crimes against the universe._

Jasper snorted despite not having a nose. "You think I'm afraid of the Jeweler? I've faced armies and survived hundreds of war campaigns. There's nothing in the universe that can scare me."

 "All the same, we can't risk any missions."

"She hasn't met a gem like me before. Trust me, I'll be the last gem she messes with."

Yellow Agate looked doubtful. "If you are sure, 6AD." Jasper nodded. "Very well, go outside and join the other soldiers. You leave for the next battle today. The officer you'll be answering to is already at the ship."

Jasper turned and walked out the door, pausing briefly to rub her forehead. It did little to soothe her, so she kept walking until she reached the troop transporter. A Hessonite gem was standing outside the ship. "Get in soldier" she ordered.

Jasper could only look confused. "Since when can a garnet gem be a commanding officer?"

Hessonite looked at her offended. "Since my enterprise proved to be Homeworld's most successful." She sneered.  

"So what? Your words are meaningless if you haven't seen action."

"I'll have you know I fought in the Rebellion before you were made, 6AD. In fact, I had the honor of facing off against Rose Quartz herself on the last day." Hessonite paused for a moment and looked at Jasper disgusted. "What a shame my glory is overshadowed by that of "the kindergarten quartz that could."

Jasper smiled. "I'm not surprised. No one would call a garnet a war hero, their not meant for the battlefield."

 Hessonite glared. "Get in." she ordered shortly.

Jasper go on board and took a seat in the troop section, a smug smile on her face. All the same, she couldn't help but be reminded of the garnet selling polish. Perhaps, she was right after all. If that Hessonite could become a military CO, what was to stop others from achieving the same? Jasper didn't dwell on this though, her headache had finally passed.

* * *

 The atmosphere was lighter at the beach house the next day. Steven had told Connie everything that had happened, and she would be bringing her Mom to their next lesson to meet Rose. 

"Let's hope it goes better than last time." he joked.

Rose patted her son on the head. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"They'll be here soon, I'll wait for them on the porch and let you know when they arrive."

Rose nodded and watched as Steven went outside. She sighed to herself when he was out of sight.

"You...shouldn't let it bother you." Garnet said encouragingly. Rose turned around in surprise. "She was villain after all."

Rose turned away from her. "She wasn't always. There was time when she was so sweet, you'd swear she wouldn't hurt a fly. It's just that...she was never the same after I walked out on her. Did my betrayal make her so evil? Or did I leave her in a position where they manipulated her to be more like them?"

"I wouldn't put it past the diamonds to do that." Garnet snorted. "Steven will found out when the day comes, perhaps that's for the best." Garnet walked away just as Leggy entered the room. 

"Um, it's my turn to watch you. I understand there will be a training session of sorts."

"Yes, that's right. Take the warp pad to the sky arena, and try not to draw attention to yourself during the lesson." Rose replied.

Leggy nodded and walked onto the pad. "You know, the other told me you where a monster, but you don't seem so bad to me."

"Thank you."

Rose watched as the Ruby warped away, only to be greeted by Eyeball. "What do you want?"

Eyeball hesitated for a moment. "I just wanted to look at you."

Rose was confused. "For what?"

"A thousand of years of fighting has officially been for nothing. I just wanted closure for all of it."

Rose remained quiet for a moment. "Well, I hope you finally have the peace you were looking for."

Eyeball looked at her curiously for a moment before wordlessly leaving.

"Okay, get ready." Rose heard from the front door. She turned to face it. "Presenting my mom, Rose Quartz!" The door opened to reveal Steven, Connie and Dr. Maheswaran. Both Maheswarans stared at her in awe. Eventually, Connie came up to her.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Universe."

Rose blushed. "It's nice to meet you too, Connie, but you can just call me Rose. His father and I never got married for reasons I'm sure are obvious."

Connie chuckled. "Of course. I only hope you don't mind that I used your sword."

"Not at all. Although, I have a friend who can make a new one for you."

"Really?"

"If it's okay with your mother." Rose looked over to Priyanka.

"That depends, i'd like to discuss it with you first, Rose."

"Of course, we can talk during their lesson." The four got on the warp pad. "You'd best hold on to me for this." Rose said to Priyanka. "Traveling by warp pad can be bit disorienting at first."

The doctor gripped Rose's arm. In an instant, they arrived at the arena. "You were right, that was...quite something." Priyanka said slowly.

Rose chuckled. "First trips always the worst." 

Steven and Connie ran over to Pearl. Rose smiled. She still remembered the little fallout they had the night Steven returned from Homeworld. Thankfully, Connie returned the following day for the two to reconcile. Steven even told her about his time campaigning for Bill Dewey, and how he threw the election despite all of Steven's work.

Rose patted Priyanka on her back.  "Feeling better?"

"Yes, so about swords." Priyanka replied. The two moms discussed the responsibilities that come with owning a sword, and Priyanka agreed Connie was perfectly capable. After that, they talked about other things. "So, you started a civil among your own people. Why?"

Rose sighed. "For my own selfish reasons."

"Which were?"

"I thought this planet and everything on it was beautiful, and colonizing it would only ruin it."

Priyanka nodded. "Don't you ever worry of the repercussions your war would bring to Earth.

Rose looked towards the sky. "Before I gave up physical form for Steven, not at all. Only now do I see how foolish I was for thinking it was all over."

There was moment of silence between the two of them. Finally, the lesson was finished for the day. Arrangements were made for Connie's new sword and the Maheswarans left.


	13. Recoruption

 Soon the ship arrived at a gem colony currently under attack. The current battle was at a loll, so it was quiet as the troops disembarked. Once on site, Hessonite briefly spoke to the CO onsite, then came over to her troops.

"We'll begin briefing now. This colony is under attack by a race known as Slaviods, androids that were once slaves to an organic race. Records show that they are weak to electricity, so you will be trained in using specialized weapons for this battle. Fortunately, they wouldn't be too different from weapons you are already use to, so you should be battle ready after one training session. Any questions?"

There were none, so the troops began training right away. Soon, the troops where ready, and Jasper was itching for a fight. She didn't have to wait long. The next day, they were briefed, then dispatched to a battlefield. 

"Alright troops," Hessonite began, "intel says that the enemy will start an attack here, so ready you weapons."

The platoon raised their guns just as army of humanoid robots came into view. 

"Finally, " Jasper thought to herself. "pure battle."

Despite this, the early briefing had laid out battle plans that seemed hauntingly familiar. Regardless, the gems readied their weapons and engaged the enemy. Unfortunately for Jasper, no sooner had she struck down an enemy soldier, her headache returned. This time, it was the worst it had ever been.

"Ahh!" she cried, holding her head. The noise of the battle rang loudly in her head, and her vision blurred severely. Jasper fell on all fours and closed her eyes. The headache reached a high before calming down to a manageable state. She opened her eyes, only to look down at a sight or pure horror. A single teal spot rested on her hand. "No, NO, NOOO!!! NOT AGAIN!!!"

Jasper looked around her. Soldiers clashed all around, and more came for her. She summoned her helmet and rammed her way through the battle field, soon finding what she was looking for.

"I have to risk it." she said to herself as she jumped into the small ship and took off.

What she didn't see was Hessonite was hot on her heal in her own craft.

* * *

Steven watched as the Maheswaran's drove away. No sooner was their car out of sight, something flashed in his eyes. He looked up to see a kind of spacecraft speeding towards the ground. In a minute, it crashed into the beach. The boy watch dumbfounded was Jasper, crawled out of the wreck, fully healed. But the might quartz soldier stumbled and fell on her hands and knees, groaning pathetically. She crawled a short distance before finally looking up at him.

"St...St...Steven...help...me!" She cried, holding a hand out. A teal spike suddenly spurted out of it. Steven quickly got up and ran inside.

Jasper groaned. "Of course he's not going to help me, why would he? After everything I did to him, I'm surprised he was willing to try some to save me the first time."

"Well, isn't that surprising." a new voice said. Jasper felt a force suddenly push her on her stomach. "Looks like my time has come." Hessonite said smugly, summoning her sword. "What a shame it is, that the most powerful of Homeworld's quartz soldiers would succumb to corruption. I suppose it would best to put you out of your misery."

"I have a second opinion." Another voice shouted.

Hessonite looked up in disbelief. "Rose Quartz!"

"I believe we have a dance to finish, Hessonite." Rose replied, her own sword in hand. 

Hessonite growled and charged at Rose. Jasper could only watched as the two skillfully fought before pain struck her again. More teal spikes appeared on her form. When the two dueling gems moved away from her, Steven come running up.

"Just do it." Jasper panted out. Steven licked his palm and rubbed it on Jasper's arm.

Slowly, the teal receded. Jasper afforded herself a smile before her headache hit her with unimaginable force, this time causing her to scream in pain. By the time the pain subsided, she was nearly corrupted again, her form lion like once again.

"No!" Steven cried.

"It's..okay..kid." Jasper breathed slowly. "I...deserve...it." She could feel herself succumbing to the corruption, just as painful as it was the first time.

"NO YOU DON'T!!!!!" Steven screamed.

All at once, the pain stopped, and the corruption stopped spreading.

Jasper looked down at the boy. "You...think so?"

"Well, yeah. No gem does, nor should they have to fight for their lives."

"Even after I threatened and harmed you?"

"Absolutely."

Jasper felt tears well up in her eyes as what she could only describe as comfort washed over her form. Almost immediately, her from reverted back to its original state. When that was done, she wrapped her arms around Steven and pulled him close to her.

"Argh!"

Steven and Jasper turned to see Rose had stuck her sword in Hessonite's naval. The garnet gem wordlessly poofed, her gem landing softly in the sand. Rose quickly picked it up and bubbled it, turning to face Steven and Jasper. When the two quartz gems meet each others gaze, Jasper rose to her feet.

"What are you...?" Steven began to ask, but Jasper gestured him to stand back.

"It's okay, Steven." Rose said to him, "She needs this."

"We do this with honor." Jasper grunted.

Rose stuck her sword in the sand and approached Jasper. Th two took a fighting stance before Jasper made the first move. Surprisingly, Rose was ready for it and countered. They matched blows as they fought, the conflict appearing stuck in an endless stalemate. However, just as Jasper threw a roundhouse kick, Rose quickly dodged, leaving Jasper open. She wasted no time whaling on the other gem until she struck Jasper down.

"So, who would have beat who into the ground?" Rose asked, offering to help Jasper up.

Jasper took her hand. "I still hate you."

"That's fine."

"But I don't fully understand what you're about anymore."

"Then perhaps, you would like me to explain?" Jasper nodded. "Come inside with us then."


	14. Understanding

"Looks like your suspicions where correct, my diamond. " Aquamarine said over the call. "The gem who tipped Rose off was White Diamond's pearl."  

Blue Diamond sat back in her chair. "Thank you, Aquamarine. I shall take over from here."

Aquamarine looked surprised. "My diamond, I can assure you..."

"I'm certain you can finish the investigation, but that little stunt you pulled at the military base has aroused suspicion. I think it would be best for you to...not have something to hide."

"As you wish, my diamond." Aquamarine sighed.

"That will be all." Blue Diamond allowed Aquamarine to salute her, then terminated the call. "Pearl, go and let my second in command it." The pearl bowed, then ran to the door, opening it for Holly Blue Agate. "Report, Commander."

Holly Blue cleared her throat. "The human zoo has been dismantled and all the soldiers have been integrated into Homeworld's forces, my diamond."

"Good, now Commander, I must ask a favor of you."

"Of course, my diamond. What would that be?"

"I need you to find the current whereabouts of a series 7 pearl, serial number G-210."

Holly was confused by the request, but didn't dare ask any questions. "It shall be done, my diamond."

"Excellent, you are dismissed."

Holly saluted the diamond and left.

* * *

 Jasper sat back on the couch, Steven curled up in her arms. Both watched as Rose Quartz slid her sword back into its scabbard, then join them on the couch.

"So, what do you want to know first?" she asked.

"Why go through the trouble of saving me after everything I've done?" Jasper asked.

"Because it was the right thing to do." Steven replied.

"I would have tried to heal you if I had been in Steven's place." Rose added.

Jasper looked at her thoughtfully. "Why rebel?" she asked.

"To save the Earth." Rose replied.

"And what's so special about this rock?"

"It's beautiful."

Jasper looked at her confused. "Beautiful?"

"Of course, everything on this planet is amazing in its own way, and to look at all of it all at once, it's breathtaking."

Jasper held back a chuckle. "So you defied Pink Diamond, cost thousands gems their lives, and caused Homeworld much of its suffering, for your own selfishness?"

 "Pretty much."

Jasper sighed. "And you had to kill Pink Diamond for the same reason."

"Actually, no. It was recently discovered that Mom didn't shatter Pink Diamond." Steven pointed out. "She was set up to make it look like that." Steven then realized what he had done.

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked. Mother and son explained the recent events. "So that's why those battle plans where so familiar." Jasper looked thoughtful for a moment. "So the Crystal Gems protect the Earth and everything on it." she thought to herself.

"What was she like?" Rose looked at her confused. "Pink Diamond."

"You didn't know her?" Steven asked.

Jasper looked solemn. "I came out of the Beta Kindergarten ready and willing to serve an already dead diamond."

Rose sighed. "Before my rebellion, she was really sweet. The kindest gem I ever knew." Jasper looked surprised. 

"A diamond? Kind?" she asked in disbelief.

"Absolutely, a real pacifistic as well. But during the rebellion, she changed. She became ruthless, sadistic and cruel. I remember one time, she came down on her own, executioner wrenches* in either hand. She tore through a quarter or my forces before we made her retreat." 

 "I would still proudly serve her."

Rose sighed. "Of course you would."

Before Jasper could respond, the warp pad lit up. An era two peridot stood on the pad when the beam receded, the gun in her limb enhancers armed and pointed at them. Unlike the peridot living with them, she had her gem in place of one of her eyes, and square shaped hair.

"Where is she?" she demanded.

The trio stared at her for a moment. "I'm going to call her Squaridot." Steven said, breaking the silence.

"I'm not in the mood for your games," Squaridot shouted, "Hand her over!"

"What's going on?" Peridot asked, then noticed the other peridot in the room. Squaridot looked over at her and paused. "Where are your limb enhancers, Pebble?"

"Pebble!? Where are _your_ manners, Clod!?"

"Who are you calling a Clod, Clod?"

"The shallow strata Zeta kindergarten hack standing in front of me!"

"Why I ought to...!"

"ENOUGH!!!!" Rose roared. The peridots stopped their bickering and looked at her. She turned to Squaridot. "Who are you looking for?"

"Hessonite." Squaridot replied. "I tracked her ship here, but her gemstone signature is stronger than usual, meaning she is in her gemstone, which you must have."

Rose pulled out Hessonite's gemstone, still held within a pink bubble. Squaridot pointed her gun at Rose. "Now, release her."

Rose squeezed the bubble until it pop. In an instant, Hessonite reformed. Hessonite looked around confused until she noticed Squaridot. "How did you get to Earth?"

"I warped here."

Hessonite looked confused. "Warped here? No one had been able to warp to Earth since after the Rebellion."

"Well, I did go through some restricted areas to get here." 

"Restricted areas?" Hessonite turned to Rose. "I don't know what's going on here, but one would think you of all gems would have the sense to destroy the galaxy warp." Rose didn't reply. Hessonite turned to Jasper. "You might as well stay here, you know what the diamond do to soldiers who abandon the battlefield." She turned her attention back to Rose. "Like I said, I don't know what's going on here, but I do know that the diamonds, or least some veterans from the war, would be very interested in your presence on Earth."

"But?" Rose asked shortly.

"If you give me back my light prism, we can pretend this little meeting never happened."

"What's stopping you from going back on that?"

"I have to face Yellow Diamond's wrath when I return to Homeworld, while giving her your location would be in my interest, it would only cause her more trouble, and she has enough to deal with as is."

"Aren't you afraid for yourself?" Steven asked.

"Hessonite turned to him. "I found and run Homeworld's most successful machinary business. It would be foolish to dispose of me when my enterprise brings so much capital for the government." She turned to Rose. "Now, the light prism."

Rose sighed. "Pearl! Can you come here?" she called.

Pearl walked into the room. "Rose, what do you...Hessonite!?"

"Renegade Pearl." Hessonite replied. "I assume she has it."

"Pearl, give Hessonite her light prism." Rose ordered.

Pearl looked shocked. "Give her _that_ back!? What's stopping her from using it here?"

"Despite what you may think, Baroque," Hessonite sneered, "I know honor. Rose Quartz defeated me in combat, I've no reason to show disrespect."

Pearl sighed and summoned a white pyramid shaped object from her gem. Hessonite took it from her hands.

"Is that a weapon?" Steven asked.

"Indeed," Hessonite replied, "I has the ability to make an army from every color in the visible light spectrum, or an unstoppable beast from white light alone. Yellow Diamond herself gave it to me before the rebellion." Hessonite placed the light prism on her form and turned to Squaridot. "We'll take the ship back to Homeworld."

Squaridot nodded and the two went outside to aboard an inverted pyramid shaped ship. Before the ship took off, Hessonite looked towards Earth. "Did you miss me, Earth? Too bad.

With that, the ship took off at light speed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * The gem destablizer things Pink Diamond was holding in her hands. I imagine they work by placing the gemstone between the prongs, then the prongs would crush the gem. They can also be used to poof a gem before that.


	15. Harsh Words

Jasper stood up and approached Peridot. "You have a way to call Homeworld?"

"Yes, but why would you want to contact anyone there, especially now?"

"Because Hessonite is going to say I was corrupted and she had to put me out of my misery as an excuse for fleeing battle. If nothing else, it'd be nice to do her reputation a little more damage."

Peridot looked over at Rose, who merely shrugged.

"Okay." Peridot replied, and led her to her room.

"Steven, go talk to Bismuth about making Connie's sword. There's something I have to see to.

Steven nodded and walked out.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Pearl asked Rose, "You haven't even talked to Greg about it."

"They both deserve to know."

"You weren't the only one who was surprised by how much she changed." Rose turned to Pearl. "We would never have meet if it wasn't for her."

"That's right, White Diamond was going to dispose of you after her new pearl was finished. Pink saved your life by giving you to me."

Pearl chuckled softly. "It's sad to think that I'd face her on the battlefield later on."

"Face her? You jumped blindly into the fight before I could make a move. You didn't last five seconds. Your only lucky I was able to get a hold of your gem before she could done something to it."

Pearl hummed. "There was only so much I could do for you back then, wasn't there?"

Rose nodded as the two gems continued to reminisce. 

* * *

 If there was one thing Yellow Diamond didn't appreciate, it was when a situation got out of her control. And when it came to the Crystal Gems, loss of control was sure to be an inevitability. A line rang presently.

"My Diamond, it's the Crystal Gem line." her pearl announced.

Yellow Diamond sighed and answered the call. "Report."

"You must be desperate to be working with the Crystal Gems." the voice of Jasper replied. 

Yellow turned to the holoscreen of the call in surprise. "What are you doing there?"

Jasper smiled smugly at her. "Finding a cure for corruption, yours didn't last. How surprising the Crystal Gems found the cure."

Yellow raised an eyebrow. "Reports say you abandoned battle, you were foolish to contact me."

"True, but...then again, so did Hessonite. She'll feed you some fairy tale where the stress of war corrupted me and she put me down before major harm could be done. It'd be nice to get one over on her."

Yellow snorted. "Your lucky this works in our favor." Jasper continued to smile at her mockingly. "Just tell the rubies to report back, you will watch over the Crystal Gems until further notice."

"As you wish,...my diamond." Jasper emphasize the last part sarcastically, making Yellow Diamond flare up.

"Let me tell you something about Pink Diamond, soldier. Every gem made to fight in the rebellion, she hated each and every one." Jasper's smiled fell. "It's no secret you're a cut above the rest, 6AD, and for that, she would have loathed you the most. Yellow Diamond, out."

Yellow smirked at Jasper's depressed face as she disconnected the call.

"My diamond, someone to see you." Yellow Pearl reported.

"Send them in." Yellow Diamond replied. The pearl opened the door, revealing Hessonite on the other side. "Come in."

Hessonite stepped forward and cleared her throat. "I'm sure you've read the reports by now."

"Indeed," Yellow diamond replied, "I have no doubt you have your reasons, but I've neither the time nor patience for those, so let's get to the point. You situation is unusual as it is. Under these circumstances, you would have been stripped of your military standing. However, I can't afford to find someone to replace you." Hessonite nodded. "That being said, I'm going to need that light prism back."

Hessonite looked dejected. "Of course, my diamond." She took the prism off her form and handed it to Yellow Diamond's pearl.

"You will alerted of your next assignment." Yellow Diamond said dismissively, waving Hessonite away. Once the garnet left, she returned to task at hand. There was some intelligence that had just been sent to her. "This would be the perfect opportunity to use the cluster."

* * *

 "Hey Bismuth?"

Bismuth turned around to face the voice.

"What do you want?" Bismuth asked.

"We were hoping you can make a new sword for Connie." Steven said kindly.

The blacksmith snorted. "Yeah sure, cause that's how it works, right? No one talks to me unless they want something."

"Really?"

"Yes, really! You're the first to have approached me since this whole mess started, no counting that time with those corrupted gems. The other girls have been keeping their distance."

"Well, I suppose that is kind of mess up, I'll see what I can..."

"Stop!" Bismuth snapped, "I don't need you pity, Steven. I get it, I'm the black...wool animal."

"Sheep?"

"Yeah, the black sheep."

Steven paused for a moment. "I forgive you." Bismuth looked at him surprised. "And if I can, the other will too, but you kind of have to understand where you went wrong."

Bismuth turned away. "I'll make the sword."

 "Great, see you later." Steven replied, and soon returned to his mother. He was surprised to find her trying to console a depressed looking Jasper.

"Is it true?" Jasper asked Rose.

"I wouldn't trust Yellow Diamond to be a reliable narrator." Rose replied.

"Poor Jasper," Steven thought to himself, "If only...wait...yes, it could work." He hurried to the barracks. "Rubies, I have a surprise for you."

The rubies looked at him. "And what that be?" Army asked.

"Come with me to the living room, and I'll show you." He led the rubies to the living room.

"Wait, is that?" Doc asked hopefully.

"No way." Eyeball replied, "He's tricking us again."

"I'm not, that's the real Jasper." Steven said, "Go on Jasper, tell them."

Jasper looked over at them. "I'm the real Jasper."

"Oh yeah, prove it." Eyeball demanded. Jasper stood up and summoned her helmet. "What's your designation?"

"Facet 9 Cut 6AD." Jasper replied.

"She is the real Jasper!" Eyeball cried.

Immediately, the rubies gathered around her. Jasper smiled as she spoke to the rubies. None of them noticed Rose had slipped away and join Steven.

"What did Yellow Diamond tell her?" Steven asked.

"That Pink Diamond hated every quartz soldier that was made to fight in the Rebellion, and would have loathed her the most." Rose replied.

"Is...is that true?"

"I don't know,...but part of me hopes it is. I mean, after seeing the state she had those humans living in, I would like to think the war didn't change her as much as she let on."

Steven nodded. "Bismuth agreed to make the sword."

"Good, I'll contact the Maheswarrans and arrange a date."

"Okay, I going to tell Connie." Steven went off to his room, leaving Rose to worry about tomorrow.


	16. Death and Mourning

Holly Blue Agate checked the address, then rang the door bell. A pink pearl opened the door.

"I'm here to see Morganite." Holly said shortly.

The pearl stepped aside and gestured an invitation in. Holly walked through the door into a lavish living room. On one of the chairs sat Morganite.

"I wonder what business Blue Diamond would have with me." Morganite said aloud, gesturing to a chair opposite her.

"This is in regards to an inquiry," Holly replied, sitting down. "No doubt you know of Pink Diamond's shattering." Morganite nodded. "And you know that some of her assets went to auction shortly afterwards."

"Yes, I bought her pearl."

"Would that be your current pearl?"

Morganite shook her head. "Looking at her brought back too many memories."

"Where is the pearl?"

Morganite sighed. "Before I show you, why is Blue Diamond interested in it?"

Holly scowled. "My diamond needn't justify herself to you."

Morganite snorted. "Come with me, Commander." Morganite led Holly to a basement that held, among other things, an cryogenic pod. Another pink pearl slept within. 

Holly Blue pulled out a mobile communicator. "I found it, my diamond."

"Bring it to me." Blue Diamond ordered.

Holly Blue turned to Morganite. "I'm going to have to borrow it."

Morganite looked uneasy. "I'll have one of my rubies accompany you."

* * *

 The rubies left soon after their talk with Jasper, leaving the large quartz alone in the room.

"I've gone soft." she muttered to herself.

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

Jasper jumped and looked up. Amethyst stood over her. "How long were you there?"

"Just got here. Rose told me about you and what happened, but I had to see it for myself." 

Jasper sighed. "I let Yellow Diamond get to me."

Amethyst sat down next to her. "I don't blame you, I'd take it pretty badly if someone I looked up to hated me, sis."

Jasper turned to her. "Sis?"

"We are sisters, aren't we?"

"Sure." Jasper turned away. "Maybe it's a good thing I never met her. What would be the point in serving someone who doesn't appreciate your efforts?"

"Like Yellow Diamond?"

"Yellow Diamond made it clear to me from the start that she took me under her court for my combat prowess. For as much as we hated each other, she respected me enough to give me a chance."

It was silent before Amethyst spoke up again. "What brought this on?" Jasper looked at her quizzically. "The change in attitude? Any other day, you would have attacked us."

 "I don't...well...I guess it's because of Steven. I've never knew anyone who'd help their enemy."

"Thought so. He always could bring out the best in everyone."

Jasper sighed. "I wonder..."

"What?"

"I...I have another problem to deal with. I just don't want him getting in the crossfire." Jasper got up. "We'll again talk tomorrow, I need some time to myself."

Amethyst watched as Jasper made her way to the barracks in the basement. "Man, this whole thing is something else." she thought to herself as she went to her room.

The next day came soon enough, and Rose Quartz could be found pacing in her room. Today was always difficult for her, no matter how many millennia went by. But this time was going to be different. Eventually, she stepped out of her room and made her way to the warp pad.

"Hey, Mom." Rose looked over to the kitchen. Steven was having a breakfast of toast and eggs. "Where are you going?"

"Korea." With that, she disappeared in a pillar of light. Steven looked concern at the empty pad, then turned to Pearl.

"Pearl?" Pearl looked over at him from the stove. "What does today have to do with Pink Diamond?"

 Pearl stopped what she was doing. "Rose will explain it to you when she's ready." When Steven didn't reply, Pearl returned her attention to the stove, only to hear the warp pad activate again. "Steven!" 

The boy hadn't heard her cry. He was already half-way across the world. He could see a large pink palanquin in the distance and a figure approaching it. He walked towards them, but kept his distance. Soon, Rose reached the palanquin and put a hand on it.

"I'm so sorry. I know now it wasn't me, but...you didn't deserve to die."  Steven watch as his mother continued to mourn, but jumped in surprise when she turned to him. "Come son." Steven walked over to her. "She died today."

"I'm so sorry." Steven replied. "Where...where you two close before the war?"

Rose looked down at him. "Yes. I always looked up to her when I served her. I loved how she was not like the other diamonds, how she was kind and caring."

"But she seemed to change."

Rose nodded. "Thing is, maybe I changed her, even if it was just a bit." Steven looked at her quizzically, so she continued. "When it came time to establish her first colony, she had me research the process so I could help keep things running smoothly. But when I learned about the life on Earth and that colonization would kill it all, I refused to allow it to happen. I went to her and asked her to stop, but she violently refused. At the time, in my naivety, I thought I saw a new side to her and came to the conclusion that she was no better than the other diamonds. It wasn't until later that I realized what a mistake that was, and that, maybe my reaction made her changed her for the worst."

"She must of had her reasons for refusing. Yes, she was wrong to colonizing Earth, but the gems don't see it like that."

"I wish I had thought of that alot sooner than I did. But there's no way to find out now." Rose took her son's hand. "I'll tell you more about her later. Right now, we have to go to the temple."

Steven nodded an the two returned to the temple.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sup, been a while since I updated this story. I want to take some time to talk about something other than Steven universe. Recently, I got some brutal criticism about it. While this would probably upset most people, it didn't upset me. 
> 
> Some of you might know from my first story on AO3 I started out on Fimfiction.net. My first story was terrible, and the first comment was a harsh criticism of it. It did upset me at first, but when some else said as much, that person explained they phrased it the way they did to help me learn and improve.
> 
> That's when I began thinking about the phrase, the truth hurts. I realized that the truth hurts because it's getting you where your weak. I want people to know that, while you might feel bad about that, it's for your own good. Sure, it stings, but that's because you have to improve in that area. Don't let brutal honesty discourage you, the people saying it only want what's best for you.
> 
> Okay, serious stuff is over, back to Steven Universe. Expect another story in this series, I'll be tackling an issue that has arisen due to recent developments.


	17. The Truth Comes Out

Holly Blue found herself in front of her diamond once again. "My diamond."

Blue Diamond looked at her impatiently. "Get on with it, Commander."

"Of course. Ruby, if you will."

Morganite's ruby deactivated the cryo pod, making it opened with a hiss of steam. When the steam clear, the pearl within opened her eyes, surprised to find herself in a new location.

"Wh...where am I?" she asked confused.

"Your in my control room." Blue Diamond replied. 

"Why am I here?" Pink Pearl asked.

"I need you to answer a question for me." Blue replied. "I know Rose Quartz is innocent, so who shattered Pink Diamond?" An expression of pure terror plastered the pearls face. "Answer me!" Blue demanded.

"It...it...it was...W...wh..." Pink Pearl covered her mouth and shook in fear as Blue Diamond glared at her. 

"My diamond," a soft voice spoke up. Everyone turned to Blue Diamond's pearl. "Her mental blocks won't let her say."

Blue Diamond sighed. "Of course, how could I have forgotten." She raised her index finger, the tip glowing a bright blue, and laid it on the pink pearl's gemstone. "You may speak freely now."

Pink Pearl paused for a moment, trying to process the feeling that had just come over her. "It was White Diamond." she said experimentally.

The control room went silent for a moment.

"As I suspect." Blue Diamond said at last. "Tell me how she did it."

"White Diamond got upset with my diamond for considering to surrender to Rose Quartz." Pink Pearl explained, "She pulled my diamond's gemstone from her form and stepped on it. She then told me no one was to know and made me partake in the coverup."

Blue Diamond sat up. "Thank you Pearl." She said simply, raising a glowing finger.

"No!" the pearl cried, covering her gem with her hands.

Blue Diamond sighed. "If I don't, I'll have to have you shattered. Is your newfound freedom worth that?"

"Yes." Pink Pearl replied simply. The other three gems paused at this. "You were going to put me back in that chamber, weren't you? I won't be able to talk in there anyway."

Blue Diamond looked at her commander, who only shrugged. "Very well."

 The pearl walked back into the chamber and Holly Blue closed the door.

"Take it back." Blue Diamond ordered simply. 

* * *

 Pearl wasn't pleased when Steven and Rose returned. "Steven, I told you to wait..."

Rose raised her hand, silencing her. "It's okay, Pearl."

Pearl sighed. "It's just that...today has always been a...an emotional time for you."

Rose nodded. "Steven and I need to talk." Pearl smiled and left the room while mother and son took a seat on the couch. "So, what do you want to know first?"

 Steven considered. "Did you really have to go to war? There had to be another way."

Rose Quartz sighed. "I've asked myself that countless times. But if I've learned anything from Homeworld, is that a diamond cannot be reasoned with. They either get what they want or shatter you for your failure to deliver."

Steven looked at her thoughtfully. "Do you think it would have been different if you had the power of a diamond?"

"No." Steven looked at her surprised. "Remember, I had to research the colonization process. In doing so, I learned that should a diamond choose to stop colonizing a planet, they give up their rights to that planet and another diamond is free to take it for themselves should they so choose."

"That's a ridiculous rule."

 "Even if it didn't exist, nothing was stopping another diamond from colonizing Earth." Rose chuckled, "But, it would be kind of funny if I was Pink Diamond. Can you imagine that...Pink Diamond shape-shifting into a rose quartz and holding that form for 5,000 years? I know diamonds are powerful, but I highly doubt even they are capable of that."

"Plus, it would make you an even worse person." The boy rubbed his chin, considering his next words. "The war continued after her shattering, didn't it?"

"Of course it did. As far as Homeworld was concerned, Pink Diamond was a martyr, the victim of a mad, war mongering rebel gem. It didn't end until the diamond made a direct attack on the planet. Considering they didn't bother with Earth again afterwards, save for the cluster, they still loss. Even if they had won, it would have been a hollow victory."

"You still care about her, don't you?"

The question caught Rose off-guard. "I...we were close. I can't imagine things getting so bad between us that we would truly come to hate each other."

Steven turned away, seemly lost in thought as he processed those words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the episode "A Single Pale Rose". I'll be the first to admit I looked down on those who stuck to "Rose is Pink Diamond" theory, and believe me, I didn't believe it when they made the reveal. I felt...lied to at first. But as I sat on it, began to think about all the story possibilities that can be explored thanks to this revelation, even if a can of worms had to be opened to get them. 
> 
> However, for my stories, I'm going to keep them as two separate entities.
> 
> In a universe where I decided to incorporate this idea into my stories, it would have been revealed that Pink Diamond decided she wanted to get out of the Diamond Authority after the incident with Yellow Diamond, so had herself cloned, and let the clone take her place while she pretended to be the first of her new Rose Quartz gems. Pink Diamond would eventually convince herself she was a Rose Quartz to the point her regeneration would reflect this.


	18. Confrontations and Revelations Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how I said I was going to keep Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond separate? I've changed my mind. After getting over my own feelings about it, I've decided I wanted to try to explore some the story possibilities Rose being Pink Diamond brings up. And yes, I'm sticking with the clone thing, but some details have been changed.

Normally, gems can go for months before they have to sleep. However, the job of a soldier is far more exhausting than almost any other, and soldiers need to be at 100% at any given moment. Given this, soldier gem are required to sleep at least eight hours every day, lest they become too tired to fight. Of course, you would only have know this if you were a homeworld gem.

"Hey, wake up!" Amethyst shouted, making Jasper jumped out of the bed.

She turned to the smaller gem when she picked herself up. "What the heck?" Jasper asked angrily.

"It's already 12:30. I mean, I like to sleep, but even I know when to get up."

Jasper walked out of barracks made her way to Peridot's room, Amethyst following her. "Open up and let me in." she ordered.

The door opened and the two quartz gem walked in. Peridot herself sat over a hollow screen. "I got a communication from Yellow Diamond. She says their was a intelligence leak and that enemy forced learned of a weapon that, if they got their hands on it, could win them the war. She wants us to either secure or destroy it."

"Us? She wants the Crystal Gems on this mission?" Jasper asked.

"If what I'm told to believe is true, Homeworld may want plausible deniability with this situation. Either way, you're leading this mission."

"Alright! I'm going to tell Rose, she'll probably know how to go about the mission the best possible way." With that, Amethyst ran out of the room.

* * *

Blue Diamond marched down the hall with her pearl struggling to keep up. The pearl wanted to tell her diamond to calm down, that she wasn't thinking straight, that confronting White Diamond was bad idea. Alas, she feared she had already used up all the leeway she was going to get, talking out of turn to remind her diamond of the mental blocks that can be placed on pearls. Blue stormed into White's control room.

"White!" she declared.

White Diamond turned to face her, a nonchalant looked on her face. "Hello Blue, what's..."

"I know you killed her." Blue interrupted.

It was silent for a moment before the elder diamond stood up, her glowing form a head taller than Blue's own. She slowly started to walk up to her younger sister, her ancient Greek style heels clapping loudly against the polished floor. 

White bent down so that she and Blue were face to face. "And?" she asked with mocking tone.

With all her rage now gone, Blue stammered before finding her voice again. "Why?"

"She was costing us with that war of hers. It she couldn't even stifle a little rebellion, how can she possibly hope to create other colonies?"

"So you shattered her gem and set up Rose Quartz to take the blame."

White turned away. "She was finally useful in that way. What better way to motivate our troops than to avenge a fallen diamond?"

"But we both know Rose Quartz was still able to push them back. We had no choice but too..." Blue paused, then remembered her anger. "That's not a good enough excuse."

"Then, what do you intend to do about it?" When Blue didn't reply, White continued. "Yellow knows as well, so don't bother telling her. Unlike you, she could understand why I did what I did. I have no doubt she grieved as hard as you did, but in time..."

Blue could only turn and walk out of the control room.

* * *

Lapis Lazuli landed in front of the beach house and walked in. She had taken a little longer with her morning flight today, but was sure she hadn't missed much. "What the!?" Everyone was gathered in the living room, along with Jasper. "What are you doing here?" she asked angrily.

Steven ran up to her. "It's okay. Jasper won't hurt us." Lapis could only level an angry glare at Jasper before Steven spoke up again. "Also, you have to apologize to her. You know, for imprisoning her in the ocean for all those months."

Lapis looked away. "I can't. I wouldn't mean it."

Steven looked at her disappointed until Jasper spoke up. "Then apologize for not refusing, we had good thing going."

Lapis turned back to her. "Good thing? We became a monster!"

"We were unstoppable!"

"You know what, I am sorry. Malachite was a mistake. Maybe you wouldn't be so messed up if I hadn't done it." Lapis then made her way to her room, leaving the group quite for a moment before Jasper spoke up.

"She can't talk, I've seen the things that go on in her mind. She's no better than me."

"Maybe not, but she is right." Steven replied, "Malachite wasn't healthy for either of you. I remember when you climbed onto our boat, you were kind of out of it. Was losing yourself in that fusion really worth the power?"

Jasper didn't reply. True, it was rather exhilarating to be Malachite. Being that powerful, having so many option at hand thanks to fusion, it would certain help gemkind.

"I'd hate to be that guy, but we do have to return to the matter at hand." Rose interrupted.

"Right, so based on the communication, the weapon was hidden on a planet that was never fully colonized. Yellow Diamond already sent us coordinates, so the main problem is getting there." Peridot explained.

"We don't we use the ship Jasper came in?" Steven asked.

"That wreck outside? Not a chance. Unless we get parts from Homeworld, we have no way of fixing it."

"Sure we do, I got my healing spit back, I can fix it no problem." Steven replied.

"Wait, NOW you have..."

"Go on Steven." Garnet interrupted.

Everyone went outside to where the ship had crash landed. It was mangled so badly that it only vaguely resembled a spaceship. None the less, Steven licked his palm and rubbed it on one of the ship's wings. No sooner had he done it the ship straightened itself out, space-worthy once more. Peridot quickly got in and inspected the ship.

"Who did you steal this from?" She asked Jasper when she had finished.

"I don't know, it was just sitting in a docking bay unguarded when I took it." Jasper replied.

"Well, it obviously belonged to someone important, this ship with very personalized. The nova thrusters emit a unique energy signature when running..."

"Meaning that the owner could find it once they find the energy signature." Pearl finished.

Peridot nodded. "I'm certain that would be the last thing we need during this assignment. Not to worry though, a few quick adjustments will take care of that."

"Make sure you can undo those adjustments, I'm sure the owner would want it back as it was built." Rose put in. Peridot nodded and went back it to make the adjustments. Rose then turned to Steven. "I want you to stay here in case the owner comes looking for their ship."

 "You can count on me, Mom." Steven replied with a salute.

"Pearl, Bismuth, say with him, just in case the owner gets a little difficult." Both gems nodded in understanding. "Alright, let's get going."

Rose, Garnet, Amethyst and Jasper got aboard the ship. Those still on the beach watched it lifted off the ground and hovered while turned in the direction of it's destination. The nose raised slightly before it off at hyperspeed.


End file.
